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SMALLER  HISTORY  OF  ROME, 


FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  THE  ESTABLISHMENT 
OF  THE  EMPIRE. 


BY  WILLIAM  SMITH,  LL.D. 


WITH  A  CONTINUATION   TO  A.D.  479. 
BY  EUGENE  LAWRENCE,  A.M. 


XllustrnteTj  fog  Enjjrabfnjjs  on 


NEW  YORK : 
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NOTICE, 


THE  present  History  has  been  drawn  up  chiefly  for 
the  lower  forms  in  schools,  at  the  request  of  several 
teachers,  and  is  intended  to  range  with  the  author's 
Smaller  History  of  Greece.  It  will  be  followed  by  a 
similar  History  of  England.  The  author  is  indebted  in 
this  work  to  several  of  the  more  important  articles  upon 
Roman  history  in  the  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman 
Biography. 

The  Table  of  Contents  presents  a  full  analysis  of  the 
work,  and  has  been  so  arranged  that  the  teacher  can 
frame  from  it  questions  for  the  examination  of  his  class, 
the  answers  to  which  will  be  found  in  the  correspond- 
ing pages  of  the  volume. 

The  restoration  of  the  Forum  has  been  designed  by 
Mr.  P.  W.  Justyne. 

W.S. 


Temple  of  J  aniH.     ( From  a  Coin.) 


Julius  Cffisar. 

CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GEOGRAPHY  OF  ITALY — EABLY  INHABITANT* 


Position  of  Italy 1 

Its  boundaries 1 

Its  two  Divisions 1 

I.  Gallia  Cisalpina 2 

Liguria 2 

Venetia 2 

II.  Italia,  properly  so  called 2 

Ktruria 2 

Umbria 2 

Picenum 2 

SabinL 3 

Marsi 3 

Peligni. 3 

Vestini 3 

Marrucini 8 

Frentani 3 

Latium:  its  two  senses 3 

The  Campagna 3 

The  Pontine  Marshes 4 

Campania 4 

Bay  of  Naples 4 

Samnium 4 


Pag« 

Apulia 4 

Calabria 4 

Lucania 4 

Brnttii 4 

Fertility  of  Italy 5 

Its  productions 5 

Ita  inhabitants 5 

I.  Italians  proper. 5 

I.Latins 5 

2.  Umbro-Sabellians 5 

II.  lapygians 5 

HI.  Etruscans 5 

Their  name. 5 

Their  language 5 

Their  origin 5 

Their  two  confederacies. .  C 

1.  North  of  the  Po. . . . .  6 

2.  South  of  the  Apen- 

nines   6 

Foreign  races — 

IV.Greeks C 

Gauls 6 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  FIRST  Foun  KINGS  OF  ROME.    B.C.  753-616. 


Position  of  Rome 7 

Its  inhabitants 7 

1.  Latins 7 

2.  Sabines 7 

3.  Etruscans 7 

Remarks  on  early  Roman  his- 
tory   8 

Legend  of  jEneas 8 

Legend  of  Ascanius 8 

Foundation  of  Alba  Longa ...  8 


I-egend  of  Rhea  Silvia 8 

Birth  of  Romulus  and  Remus. .  8 

Their  recognition  by  Numitor  9 

753.  Foundation  of  Rome 9 

Roma  Quadrata 9 

Pomoarium 9 

DeathofRemus 10 

753-716.  Reign  of  Romulus 9 

Asylum 10 

Rapa  of  Sabines 10 


CONTENTS. 


no.  Pago 

War  with  Sabincs 10 

Tarpeia 10 

Sabine  women 10 

Joint  reign  of  Romulus 

and  Titua  Tatius 11 

Death  of  Titus  Tatiua..  11 

Sole  reign  of  Komulus..  11 

Death  of  Romulus 11 

Institutions  ascribed  to 

Romulus 12 

Patricians  &  Clients  12 
Three  tribes — Ram- 
nes,    Tities,    Lu- 

ceres 12 

Thirty  Guriso 12 

Three  HundredGen- 

tes 12 

Comitia  Curiata. ...  12 

The  Senate 12 

The  Army 12 

716-673.  Reign  of  Numa  Pompilius  12 
Institutions  ascribed  to 

Numa  Pompiliua 12 

Pontiffs 12 

Augurs 13 


B.O.  Page 

Flamens 13 

Vestal  Virgins 13 

Salii 13 

Temple  of  Janus. . .  13 

G73-644.  Reign  of  Tullua  llostilius  13 

War  with  Alba  Longa. .  13 
Battle  of  the  Iloratii  and 

CuriatiL 13 

War  with  the  Etruscans  14 
Punishment  of  Mettius 
Fuffetius,  Dictator  of 

Alba  Longa 14 

Destruction  of  Alba  Longa  14 
Removal  of  its  inhabit- 
ants to  Rome. 14 

Origin    of   the    Roman 

Plebs 14 

Death  of  Tullus  Hostilius  14 

640-616.  Reign  of  Ancus  Marcius..  14 

War  with  the  Latins. . .  14 

Increase  of  the  Plebs. . .  15 

Ostia 15 

Janiculum 15 

Pons  Sublicius 15 

Death  of  Ancus  Marcius  15 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  LAST  TITBEE  KINGS  OP  ROME,  AND  TUB  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  RETCBI.K) 
DOWN  TO  THE  BATTLE  OP  TUB  LAKE  REGILLUS.    B.O.  616-498. 


61C-578.  Reign  of  Tarquinius  Priscua  16 

His  early  history 16 

His  removal  to  Rome...  16 

Becomes  king 16 

Hiswars 16 

The  Cloacae 16 

Circus  Maximus 17 

Increase  of  the  Senate. .  17 

Increase  of  the  Equites  17 

Attus  Navius 17 

Increase  of  the  Vestal 

Virgins. 17 

Early  history  of  Servius 

Tullius 17 

Death     of    Tarquinius 

Priscus 18 

678-534.  Reign  of  Servius  Tullius..  18 
I.  Reform  of  the  Roman 

Constitution 18 

1.  Division  of  the  Ro- 

man territory  into 

Thirty  Tribes....  18 

2.  Comitia  Ccnturiata  18 

Census 18 

Five  Clashes 19 

The  Equilm 19 

Number  of  the  Cen- 
turies   19 


Three  sovereign  as- 
semblies— Comitia 
Centuriata,  Comi- 
tia Cwriata,  Comi- 
tia Tributa 20 

II.  Increase  of  the  city : 
walls    of    Serving 

Tullius 20 

IIL  Alliance     with     the 

Latins 20 

Death  of  Servius  Tul- 
lius      22 

534-610.  Reign  of  Tarquinius  Su- 

perbus 22 

His  tyranny 22 

His   alliance   with   the 

Latins 23 

His  war  with  the  Vol- 

scians 23 

Foundation  of  the  teruplo 
on  the  Capitoline  Hill  23 

The  Sibylline  books 23 

Legend  of  the  Sibyl 23 

Capture  of  Gabii 23 

King's  sons  and  Brutus 
eent  to  consult  the  or- 
acle fit  Delphi. 23 

Lucretia 24 


CONTENTS. 


B.C                                                  Page 
Expulsion   Of  the   Tar- 
quins 25 

&09.  Establishment  of  the  Republic  25 

The  Consuls 25 

First  attempt  to  restore  the 

Tarquins 25 

Execution  of  the  sons  of 

Brutus 25 

War  of  the  Etruscans  with 

Rome 26 

Death  of  Brutus 26 

Defeat  of  the  Etruscans. .  20 

Valerius  Publicola 26 


B.C.  Page 

Dedication   of  the  Capitoline 

Temple  by  M.  Iloratius 20 

508.  Second  attempt  to  restore  the 

Tarquins 20 

Lara  Porsena 26 

Iloratius  Cocles 26 

Mucius  Scievola. 27 

Closlia 27 

498.  Third  attempt  to  restore  the 

Tarquins 28 

War  with  the  Latins 28 

Battle  of  the  Lake  Eegillua  23 

496.  Death  of  Tarquinius  Superbus  28 


CHAPTER  IV. 


FBOM  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  LAKE  REGII.LUS  TO  THE  DECEMVIRATE. 
B.C.  498-451. 

Institution  of  the  Tribunes 

ofthePlebs 31 

4S6.  Agrarian  Law  of  Sp.  Cassius. .     81 

Foreign  wars 32 

4S8.        I.  Coriolanus  and  the  Vol- 

scians 33 

477.      H.  The  Fabia  Gens  and  the 

Veientines 33 

458.     III.  Cincinnatus     and     the 

^Equians 34 

League  between  the  Romans, 
Latins,  and  Hernicons 35 


Struggles  between  the  Patri- 
cians and  Plebeians 29 

Ascendency  of  the  Patricians. .     29 

Sufferings  of  the  Plebeians 30 

Law  of  debtor  and  creditor 30 

Ager  Publicus 30 

Object  of  the  Plebeians  to  ob- 
tain a  share  in  the  political 
power  and  in  the  public 

land 30 

494.  Secession  to  the  Sacred  Mount 


Fable  of  Menenius  Agrippa    31 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  DECEMVIEATE.    B.O.  451^49. 


471.  Publllian  Law,  transferring  the 
election  of  the  Tribunes  from 
the  Comitia  of  Centuries  to 
those  of  the  Tribes 86 

462.  Proposal  of  the  Tribune  Teren- 
tilius  Arsa  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  Decemviri 87 

4CO.  Seizure  of  the  Capitol  by  Her- 

donius  the  Sabine 87 

454.  Appointment  of  three  Commis- 
sioners to  visit  Greece. 37 

452.  Their  return  to  Rome 37 

451.  Appointment  of  the  Decemviri    37 
TheTenTables 37 

460.  New  Decemviri  appointed. ...    3T 


Their  tyranny 88 

Two  new  Tables  added,  mak- 
ing twelve  in  all 38 

449.  The  Decemviri  continue  in  office  38 

Death  of  Sicinius  Dentatus . .  88 

Death  of  Virginia 89 

Second  secession  to  the  Sacred 

Mount. 39 

Resignation  of  the  Decem- 
virs   39 

Election  often  Tribunes. .  40 

Valerian  and  Horatian  Laws. .  40 

Death  of  Appius  Claudius. ...  40 

The  Twelve  Tables 40 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  DECEMVIBATE  TO  THE  CAPTURE  OP  ROME  BY  THE  GAULS. 
B.C.  448-390. 


B.C.  Page 

446.  Third  secession  to  the  Sacred 

Monnt 41 

Lex   Canuleia   for   inter- 
marriage  between   the 

two  orders 41 

Institution  of  Military  Tri- 
bunes    with     consular 

powers 41 

443.  Institution  of  the  Censorship. .    41 
421.  Qiispstorship  thrown  open  to  the 

Plebeians 42 

440.  Famine  at  Rome 42 

Death  of  Sp.  Maeiius 42 

Foreign  wars 42 

Roman  colonies... 43 


B.O.  Page 

War  with  the  Etruscans 43 

437.  Spolia  Opima  won  by  A.  Cor- 
nelius Cossus 43 

426.  Capture  and  destruction  of  Fi- 

denae 43 

403.  Commencement  of  siege  of  Veil  43 

Tale  of  the  Alban  Lake. 43 

396.  Appointment   of  Camillus  as 

Dictator. 43 

Capture  of  Veii 44 

394  War  with  Falerii 44 

Tale  of  the  Schoolmaster.. . .  44 

Unpopularity  of  Camillas 44 

391.  He  goes  into  exile 44 


CHAPTER  VII. 


FROM  THE  CAPTCBE  OF  ROME  BY  THE 
Two  OBDEBS. 

The  Gauls,  or  Celts 45 

391.  Attack  of  Clusium  by  the  Se- 

nones 45 

Roman    embassadora    gent    to 

Clusium. 45 

They  take  part  in  the  fight 

against  the  Senones 45 

The  Senones  march  upon  Rome  46 

390.  Battle  of  the  Allia 46 

Destruction  of  Rome. 46 

Siege  of  the  Capitol 46 

Legend  of  M.  Manliiu 47 

Appointment   of  Camillus   as 

Dictator. 47 

lie  delivers  Rome  from   the 

Gauls 47 

Rebuilding  of  the  city 47 

Further  Gallic  wars 48 

961.     Legend  of  T.  Manliua  Tor- 

quatus 48 

849.    Legend  of  M.  Valerius  Corvua  48 


GAULS  TO  TITB  FINAL  UNION  OF  THE 
B.C.  390-367. 

385.  Distress  at  Rome. 49 

384.  M.  Manlius  comes  forward  as  a 

patron  of  the  poor 48 

Hisfate 49 

376.  Licinian  Rogations  proposed. .  49 
Violent  opposition  of  the  Pa- 
tricians    50 

367.  Licinian  Rogations  passed 50 

3t>6.  L.  Sextius  first  Plebeian  Consul  5C 

Institution  of  the  Prsetorship. .  50 

356.  First  Plebeian  Dictator. 61 

S51.  First  Plebeian  Censor 51 

336.  First  Plebeian  Pnetor 51 

300.  Lex  Ogulnia,  increasing  the 
number  of  the  Pontiffs  and 
Augurs',  and  enacting  that 
a  certain  number  of  them 
should  be  taken  from  the 

Plebeians 61 

339.  Publilian  Laws 61 

286.  Lex  Hortensia 61 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FBOM  THE  LICINIAN  ROGATIONS  TO  THE  END  OF  TUB  SAMNITE  WARS. 
B.C.  36T-290. 


B.O.  Page 

S62.  Pestilence  at  Rome £>2 

Death  of  Camillus 52 

TaleofM.  Curtius 53 

TheSamnites 53 

Their  history 53 

Division  into  four  tribes 53 

ConquerCampaniaandLucania  53 
Samnites  of  the  Apennines  at- 
tack the  Sidicini 53 

Campanians  assist  the  Sidicini  53 
They  are  defeated  by  the  Sam- 
nites   53 

They  solicit  the  assistance  of 

Rome 53 

343-341.  FIRST  SAMNITE  WAR 54 

Battle  of  Monnt  Gaurus  54 

Peace  concluded 54 

Reasons  for  the  conclu- 
sion of  peace 54 

340-33S.  THE  LATIN  WAR. 54 

The  armies  meet  near 

Mount  Vesuvius 65 

Tale  of  Torquatus 55 

Decisive  battle. 55 

Self-sacrifice  of  Decius. .  55 

Capture  of  Latin  towns  50 

Conclusion  of  the  war. . .  66 
829.  Conquest  of  the  Volacian  town 

of  Privernum 5C 

Origin  of  the  Second  Samnite 

War 56 

327.  The  Romans  attack  Palajopolia 

find  Neapolis. 56 


B.O.  Pago 

326-304.  SECOND  SAMNITE  WAR.. . .    5T 
First  Period. 

Roman  arms  successful    57 
325.  Quarrel  between  L.  Pa- 

pirius  Dictator  and  Q. 
I-'abiu?,  his  matter  of 

the  horse. 57 

321-315.     Second  Period. 

Success  of  the  Samnites    57 
321.  Defeat  of  the  Romans  at 

the  Caudine  Forks  by 

C.Pontius 58 

Ignominious  treaty  re- 
jected by  the  Romans    58 
314-304     Third  Period. 

Success  of  the  Romans. .    68 

311.  War  with  the  Ktruscans    BS 

Defeat  of  the  Etruscans    59 

Defeat  of  the  Samnites . .    69 

304.  Peace  with  Rome 59 

300.  Conquests  of  Rome  in  Central 

Italy 69 

Coalition  of  Etruscans,  Umbri- 
ans,  and   Samnites   against 

Rome 59 

298-2BO.  TIMED  SAMNITE  WAB 59 

295.  Decisive  battle  of  Sen- 

tinum 59 

Self-sacrifice     of     the 

younger  Decius 59 

292.  C.  Pontius  taken  pris- 

oner aud  put  to  death    59 


CHAPTER  IX. 


FBOM  TIIE  CONCLUSION  OP  TUB  SAMNITE  WAR  TO  THE  SCTRJCGATION  OF  ITALY. 
B.O.  290-2C5. 

283.  War  with  the  Etruscans  and 

Gauls 60 

Battle  of  the  Lake  Vadimo 60 

CO 

CO 


2S2.  State  of  Magna  Grwcia 

The  Romans  assist  Thurii 

Their  fleet  is  attacked  by  the 

Tarentines Cl 

Roman  embassy  to  Tarentum    61 
281.  War  declared  against  the  Ta- 
rentines      61 

They  apply  for  aid  to  Pyrrhus    61 
Pyrrhiis  arrive:;  in  Italy 62 


280.  His  first  campaign  against  the 

Romans 62 

Battle  of  Heraclea 62 

Remarks  of  Pyrrhus  on  the 

victory 62 

He  attempts  to  make  peace 

with  Roma 62 

Failure  of  his  minister  Cincas  63 
He  marches  upon  Rome  and 

arrives  at  Pneneste 63 

Retires  into  winter  quarters  at 

Tareutum 63 


xii 


CONTENTS. 


B.C.  Page 

Embassy  of  Fabricius 03 

279.  Second  campaign  of  Pyrrhus. .  64 

Battle  of  Asculum. 64 

278.  Treachery  of  the  physician  of 

Pyrrhus 64 

Truce  with  Rome 64 

Pyrrhus  crosses  over  into  Sicily  04 

276.  He  returns  to  Italy 64 

274.  Defeat  of  Pyrrhus 65 

He  returns  to  Greece C5 

272.  Subjugation  of  Tarentum 05 

Conquest  of  Italy. 65 

273.  Embassy  of  Ptolemy  Philadel- 

phus  to  Rome 65 

Three  classes  of  Italian  popu- 
lation : 

I.  Gives  Roman!,  or  Roman 

Citizens 66 


B.C.  1'ngo 

1.  Of  the  Thirty-three 

tribes 60 

2.  Of  the  Koman  Col- 

onies      66 

3.  Of   the    Municipal 

Towns 60 

n.  Nomen  Latinum,  or  the 

Latin  name 66 

III.  Socii,  or  Allies 66 

312.  Censorship  of  Appius  Claudius    67 
His  dangerous  innovation  as  to 

the  Freedmen 67 

804  Repealed  in  the  Censorship  of 
Q.  Fabiua  Maximus  and  P. 

Decius  Mus 67 

312.  The  Appian  Way 67 

The  Appian  Aqueduct 67 

Cn.  Flavius 67 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  FIEST  PUNIO  WAB. 

814.  Foundation  of  Carthage 68 

Its  empire 68 

Its  government 68 

Its  army 63 

Its  foreign  conquests 63 

Conquest   of  Messana  by  the 

Mamertini 69 

Hiero  attacks  the  Mamertini. .  69    253 
They  apply  for  assistance  to 

Rome 69    260. 

864.  The  Consul  A  p.  Claudius  crosses 

over  to  Sicily  to  aid  them. . .  70 
He  defeats  the  forces  of  Syra- 
cuse and  Carthage 70 

263.  Hiero  makes  peace  with  the          250. 

Romans 70    249. 

262.  Capture  of  Agrigentum  by  the 

Romans 70 

2CO.  The  Romans  build  a  fleet 70 

Naval  victory   of  the  Consul  247. 

Duilius 71 

256.  The  Romans  invade  Africa —  72 

Their  naval  victory 72 

Brilliant  success  of  Rcgulus  in 

Africa 72 

The  Carthaginians  sue  in  vain 

for  peace 72    241. 

255.  Arrival  of  the  Lacedeemonian 

Xauthippus. 72 


B.C.  264-241. 
He  restores  confidence  to  the 

Carthaginians T3 

Defeat  and  capture  of  Regulus  73 
Destruction  of  the  Roman  fleet 

by  a  storm 73 

The    Romans    build    another 

fleet 73 

Again  destroyed  by  a  storm. . .  73 
The  war  confined  to  Sicily. ...  73 
Victory  of  Metellus  at  Panor- 

mus 73 

Embassy  of  the  Carthaginians 

to  Rome 73 

Heroic  conduct  of  Regulus. ...     74 

Siege  of  Lilybsoum 74 

Defeat  of  the  Consul  Claudius 

at  sea 75 

Destruction  of  the  Roman  fleet 

a  third  time 75 

Appointment  of  Hamilcar  liar- 
ca  to  the  Carthaginian  com- 
mand   75 

He  intrenches  himself  on 
Mount  Hercte,  near  Panor- 

mus 75 

He  removes  to  Mount  Eryx. . .  75 
Victory  off  the  yKgatian  Islands  76 

Peace  with  Carthage. 76 

End  of  the  War 76 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XL 

EVENTS  BETWEEN  TOE  FIRST  AND  SECOND  PUNIO  WARS.    B.O.  240-219. 


B.O. 

240-238.  War  of  the  Mercenaries 

with  Carthage 77 

She  owes  her  safety  to  Hamil- 

car 77 

23S.  The  Romans  seize  Sardinia  and 

Corsica ._ 77 

llamilcar  goes  to  Spain 78 

235.  Temple  of  Janus  closed 78 

Completion  of  the  Thirty-five 

Roman  Tribes 78 

229.  ILLYRIAN  WAR. 78 

Conquest  of  Teuta,  queen  of 

thelllyriana 78 

228.  Honors  paid  to  the  Romans  itt 

the  Grecian  cities 73 

232.  Agrarian  law  of  the  Tribune 

Flaminius 78 

225.  GALLIC  WAR 78 

Defeat  of  the  Gauls  at  Tela- 

mon  in  Etruria 79 

224.     Conquest  of  tho  Boii 79 


B.C.  Page 

223.     The  Romans  cross  the  Po. . .  79 

222.     Conquest  of  the  Inaubres...  79 

Marcellus    wins    the   Spolia 

Opima. 79 

220.  The  Via  Flaminia  from  Rome 

to  Ariminum 79 

218.  Foundation  of  Colonies  at  Pla- 

centia  and  Cremona 79 

219.  SECOND  ILLYRIAN  WAR 79 

235.  llamilcar  in  Spain 80 

Oath  of  Hannibal 80 

229.  Death  of  llamilcar 80 

Uasdrubal  succeeds  him  in  the 

command 80 

227.  Treaty  with  Rome. 80 

221.  Death  of  Hasdrubal 80 

Hannibal  succeeds  him  in  the 

command 80 

219.  Siege  of  Saguntum 80 

Its  capture 81 

War  declared  against  Carthage  81 


CHAPTER  XII. 

TUB  SECOND  Pcnio  WAR:  FIEST  PERIOD,  DOWN  TO  THE  BATTLE  or 
B.O.  218-216. 


218.  Preparations  of  Hannibal 82 

His  march  to  the  Rhone 83 

Arrival  of  the  Consul  Scipio  at 

Massilia 83 

Hannibal  crosses  the  Rhone. . .  83 
Scipio  sends  his  brother  to 

Spain,  and  returns  himself 

to  Italy 83 

Hannibal  crosses  the  Alps. ...  83 

Skirmish  on  the  Ticinus 84 

Battle  of  the  Trebia 84 

Defeat  of  the  Romans 84 

217.  Hannibal's  march  through 

Etruria 86 

Battle  of  the  Lake  Trasimenus  86 


Great  defeat  of  the  Romans. . .  86 
Q.  Fabius  Maximua  appointed 

Dictator 87 

His  policy 87 

Rashness  of  Minucius,  the  Mas- 
ter of  the  Horse 87 

216.  Great  preparations  of  the  Ro- 
mans   88 

Battle  of  Cannse 88 

Great  defeat  of  the  Romans. . .  S3 

Revolt  of  Southern  Italy. 88 

Hannibal  winters  at  Capua. . .  89 
Note    on   Hannibal's    passage 

across  the  Alps 90 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SECOND  PL-NIC  WAR  :  SECOND  PERIOD,  FROM  TOE  REVOLT  OP  CAPUA  TO  THE 

13ATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUa    B.C.  215-207. 
215.  Plan  of  the  War...  .     91  WAR  IN  SICILY— 


Hannibal's  repulse  before  Nola    92 
214.  He  attempts  in  vain  to  surprise 

Tareutiim 92 

213.  He  obtains  possession  of  Ta- 

rentum 93 


216.  Death  of  Hiero. 93 

Succession  of  Hieronymus..  93 

His  assassination 93 

214  Arrival  of  Marcellus  in  Sicily  93 

He  takes  Leontini 93 


xiv 


CONTENTS. 


B.C.  Pllge 

He  lays  siege  to  Syracuse. . .  '.<'.'> 

Defended  by  Archimedes.. . .  '.i.l 

212.     Capture  of  Syracuse 1)4 

WAK  IN  SPAIN — 
212.     Capture  and  death  of  the  two 

Scipios 95 

Siege  of  Capua !!5 

211.  Hannibal  marches  upon  Koiue  95 

lit  compelled  to  retreat 96 

The  Koniana  recover  Capua. . .  90 


B.C.  Page 

Punishment  of  its  inhabitants  93 

209.  The  Romans  recover  Tarentum  00 

208.  Defeat  and  death  of  Marccllus  97 

20T.  Hasdrubal  marches  into  Italy  97 

He  besieges  Placentia 97 

March  of  the  Consul  Nero  to 
join  his  colleague  Livius  in 

Umbria 97 

Battle  of  the  Metaurus !)8 

Defeat  and  death  of  Hasdrubal  98 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


EW;ONI>  PDNIO  WAR:  TIIIKD  PERIOD,  KKOM  THE  BATTLE  of  TUB  METAUEUS  TO 
TUB  CONCLUSION  OF  TUK  WAK.    B.C.  200-201. 

204.  He  arrives  in  Africa 103 

99 


Character  and  early  life   of 

Scipio 

210.  He  is  elected  Proconsul  for 

Spain 100 

He  takes  New  Carthage 100 

206.  He  subdues  Spain 101 

He  crosses  over  into  Africa 

and  visits  Syphax 101 

He  returns  to  Home. 102 

205.  His  Consulship. 102 

He  prepares  to  invade  Africa    102 
His  project  is  opposed  by  Fa- 
bius  and  others. 102 


203.  He  defeats  the  Carthaginians 

and  Syphax 103 

Masinissa  and  Sophonisba... .  103 
The      Carthaginians     recall 

Hannibal 104 

202.  Battle  of  Zama,  and  defeat  of 

Hannibal 104 

Terms  of  peace 105 

201.  Conclusion  of  the  war 105 

Triumph  of  Scipio 106 


CHAPTER  XV. 


WAES  IN  THE  EAST:  THE  MAC 
i 

State  of  the  East  

EBON 

1.0.  2' 
IOC 
106 
106 
10C> 
106 
107 
107 
107 
107 
107 
107 
107 

~108 

108 
108 
108 

IAN,  SYEI 
4-1S8. 

200-196. 
200. 

199. 

198. 

197. 
196. 

191-190. 

AN,  AND  GALATIAN  WARS 

He  assists  the  Cartha- 
ginians at  the  battle 
of  Zama  

108 

108 

B— 

108 
109 

109 
109 

109 
110 
110 

Pontus  

Galatia  

His  conduct  in  Greece 
SECOND  MACEDONIAN  WA 
Hr.-'t    campaign  :     the 

State  of  Greece  

Second  campaign:  the 
Consul  Villius  
Third    campaign:    the 
Consul  Flamiuiniis.  . 
Battle  of  CynoaeephaUe 
Declaration  of  Grecian 
independence  at  the 
Isthmian  Games.  .  .  . 
SYRIAN  WAR  — 
Antiochus  the  Third..  . 
Intrigues  of  the  ^Eto- 
liaus  in  Greece.  

Rhodes  

Sparta     

tl4-205.  FIRST  MACF.IXWIAN  WAR- 
US  indecisive  character 
211.            Treaty  of  the  Romans 
with     the     j:t"li:m 

205.            Conclusion  of  the  war 
Philip's  hostile  acts...  . 

CONTENTS. 


xv 


B.O.  Pago 

They  Invite  Antiochus 

to  Greece 110 

Hannibal  expelled  from 

Carthage 110 

He  arrives  in  Syria.. . .     110 
His  advice  to  Antiochus    110 
192  Antiochus  crosses  over 

to  Greece 110 

191.  The  Romans  defeat  him 

at  Thermopylae 1 10 

He  returns  to  Asia 110 

190.  The    Romans    invade 

Asia Ill 

Battle  of  Magnesia 111 

Defeat  of  Antiochus  by 
Scipio  Asiaticus Ill 


B.O.  Page 

Terms  of  peace Ill 

Hannibal  flies  to  Pru- 
sias,  king  of  Bithyn- 

ia Ill 

1SD.  .<£TOLIAN  WAR— 

Fulvius  takes  Ambracia. . .     Ill 

Terms  of  peace Ill 

189.  GALATIAN  WAR— 

Manlius  attacks  the  Gala- 
tians  without  the  author- 
ity of  the  Senate  or  the 

People 112 

187.     He  returns  to  Rome 112 

Effects  of  the  Eastern  con- 
quests upon  the  Roman 
character 112 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

WAES  IN  THE  WEST  :  THE  GALLIC,  LIGURIAN,  AND  SPANISH  WABS. 
B.C.  200-1T5. 


200.  THE  GALLIC  WAR— 

The  Gauls  take  Placentia 

and  l:sy  siege  to  Cremona    113 
Conquest  of  the  Insubres 

and  Cenomani 114 

191.  Conquest  of  the  Boii. 114 

190.  Colony  founded  at  Bononia. .     114 

180.  ViaJEmilia 114 

200.  THE  LIGURIAN  WAR— 

Continued   with   intermis- 
sions for  nearly  80  years    114 

Character  of  the  war 114 

198.  Two  PROVINCES  FORMED  i» 
SPAIN 


195.  THE  SPANISH  WAR— 

The  Consul  M.  Porcius  Cato 

sent  into  Spain 114 

His  success 115 

The  Spaniards  again  take 

up  arms 115 

179.     The  war  brought  to  a  con- 
clusion by  Tib.  Sempro- 

nius  Gracchus 115 

178.  THE  ISTRIAN  WAR 115 

177-175.  THE     SARDINIAN     AND 

CORSICAN  WAR 115 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  AND  ARMY. 


Eeview  of  the  history  of  the 
Roman  Constitution 116 

Political  equality  of  the  Patri- 
cians and  Plebeians 116 

L  THE  MAGISTRATES — 

The  Lex  Annalis 117 

1.  The  Quaestors 117 

2.  The^Ediles 117 

3.  The  Prsetors 117 

4.  The  Consuls 118 

6.  The  Dictators 118 

6.  The  Censors 118 

(a)  The  Census —    118 
(6)  Control  over  the 
morals   of  the 

citizens 119 

(c)  Administration 


of  the  finances 
of  the  state...    119 
IL  Tire  SENATE — 

Its  number 119 

Its  mode  of  Election 119 

Its  power  and  duties 119 

III.  THE  POPULAR  ASSEMBLIES — 

1.  The  Comitia  Curiata. .     120  ** 

2.  The  Comitia  Centuri- 
ata:  change  in  its  con- 
stitution      120 

8.  The  Comitia  Tributa. .     121 

The  Tribunes 121 

The  Plebiscita. 121 

IV.  FINANCES — 

Tributum 121 

Vectigalia 121 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


B.G.  Page 

V.  THE  ARMY — 

Number  of  the  Legion. . .    122 
1.  First  Period — Servius 

Tulliua 122 

8.  Second    Period — The 
Great    Latin    War, 

B.c.340 122 

Hastati 122 

Prineipes 122 

Triarii 122 

RorariiandAccensi    123 
3.  Third  Period— During 
the  wars  of  the  youn- 
ger Scipio. 123 

Two  legions  assign- 
ed to  each  Consul    123 


Page 

Division  of  the  le- 
gion      123 

The  Maniples. ....    123 

The  Cohorts 123 

The  Tritium  Mili- 

tum 123 

The  Horse-soldiers    123 
Infantry  of  the  So- 

cii. 123 

4,  Fourth  Period — From 
the  times  of  the  Grac- 
chi to  the  downfall  of 

the  Republic 123 

Changes  introduced 

byMarius 124 

Triumphs 124 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

HISTORY  OF  ROME  BTTKFNO  THE  MACEDONIAN  AND  STEIAN 
CATO  AND  SCIPIO. 


Effect  of  the  Roman  conquests 

in  the  East 52ft 

Debasement    of  the   Roman 

character 126 

192.  Infamous  conduct  of  L.  Fla- 

mininus 127 

138.  Worship  of  Bacchus. 127 

Gladiatorial  exhibitions 127 

Rise  of  the  new  nobility 127 

181.  T,aw  against  bribery 127 

Decay  of  the  peasant  proprie- 
tors   128 

M.  Porcius  Cato. 128 

234-His  birth 128 

His  early  life 128 

204  His  Qusostorship 129 

198.His  Praetorship 129 

195.  His  Consulship. 129 


Repeal  of  the  Oppian  Law  130 
191.  Cato  serves  in  the  battle  of 

Thennopylse 130 

Prosecution  of  the  two  Scipios  130 
Haughty  conduct  of  Scipio  Af- 

ricanus 130 

Condemnation  of  Scipio  Asi- 

aticns 130 

Prosecution  of  Scipio  Africa- 

nus 130 

He  leaves  Rome 131 

188.  His  death 131 

Death  of  Hannibal 132 

184.  Censorship  of  Cato. 132 

He  studies  Greek  in  his  old 

age. 132 

Hischaracter 133 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

THE  TniKD  MACEDONIAN,  ACHAEAN,  AND  THIRD  PUNIC  WAHS.    B.C.  179-146. 


179.  Death  of  Philip  and  accession 

of  Perseus 134 

172.  Murder  of  Eumenes,  king  of 

Pergamus. 135 

171-168.  THIRD  MACEDONIAN  WAB — 

163.  Battle  of  Pydna 135 

Defeat  of  Perseus  by  L. 

^EmUius  Paullns 135 

167.  ./Emilius  Paullus  punishes  the 

Epirotes 105 

His  triumph 135 

His  domestic  misfortunes. . . .  136 


Haughty  conduct  of  Rome  in 

the  East 136 

Embassy  to  Antiochus  Epiph- 

anes 136 

Treatment  of  Eumenes,  king 

of  Pergamua 136 

Mean  conduct  of  Prusias,  king 

ofBythinia 136 

Treatment  of  the  Rhe- 

dians 136 

167.  One  thousand  Achseans  sent 

toltaly 136 


CONTENTS. 


xvii 


B.O.  Page 
161.  The  survivors  allowed  to  re- 
turn to  Greece 137 

149.  A  pretender  lays  claim  to  the 

throne  of  Macedonia 137 

He  is  defeated  and  taken  pris- 
oner.      137 

147-140.  THE  ACII^BAN  WAB — 
146.  Corinth    taken    by  L. 

Mummius 133 

Final       conquest       of 

Greece 138 

Rome  jealous  of  Carthage. . . .     139 
Advice  of  Scipio. 130 


B.O.  Page 

War  between  Masinissa  and 

Carthage 139 

Conduct  of  the  Romans 140 

149-146.  Tnrai)  PUNIO  WAR— 
147.  Scipio    Africanua    the 

younger,  ConauL. . . .     140 
His     parentage     and 

adoption 140 

His  character. 140 

146.  He  takes  Carthage 142 

Formation  of  the  Roman  prov- 
ince of  Africa 142 

Later  history  of  Carthage. ...    142 


CHAPTER  XX. 


SPANISH  WARS,  B.C.  153-133 
153.  War  with  the  Celtiberians. . .     143 
152.  Peace  with  the  Celtiberians. .     143 
151.  War  with  the  Lusitanians. . .     143 
150.  Treacherous   murder   of  the 

Lusitanians  by  Galba 144 

Success  of  Viriathus  against 

the  Romans 144 

The  Celtiberians  again  take 
up  arms  —  tho  Numantine 

War. 144 

140.  Murder  of  Viriathus 145 

13S.  Brutus  conquers  the  Gallseci    145 
137.  The  Consul  Hostilius  Manci- 
nus  defeated  by  the  Numan- 

tincs 145 

He  signs  a  peace  with  the  Nu- 

mantines 145 

The  Senate  refuse  to  ratify  it    145 
142.  Censorship  of  Scipio  Africa- 

nus 145 

134.  Consul  a  second  time 145 

He  carries  on  the  war  against 
Numantia 146 


FIRST  SEEYILE  WAR,  'B.C.  134-132. 

133.  He  takes  Numantia 146 

Increase  of  slaves 146 

They  rise  in  Sicily 140 

They  elect  Eunua  as   their 

leader. 146 

Eunus  assumes  the  title  oi 

king 146 

134  He  defeats  the  Roman  gener- 
als. 


132.  IB  himself  defeated  and  taken 


prisoner. 


133.  Death  of  Attalus,  last  king  of 


147 
147 


Pergamus 147 

He  bequeaths  his  kingdom  to 
the  Romans 147 

131.  Aristonicus  lays  claim  to  the 

kingdom  of  Pergamus 147 

1 30.  Is  defeated  and  taken  pris- 
oner     147 

129.  Formation  of  the  province  of 

Asia 14T 

Extent  of  the  Roman  domin- 
ions..., .     UI 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


THE  GBACCIII. 

Necessity  for  reform 148 

Early  life  of  Tiberius  Grac- 

,  chus 149 

''l  3T.  Quaestor  in  Spain. 149 

133.  Elected  Tribune 150 

Brings  forward  an  Agrarian 

Law 150 

Opposition  of  the  landowners  150 
The  Tribune   Octavius   puts 

his  veto  upon  it 150 

Deposition  of  Octavius 151 

The  Agrarian  Law  enacted.,  151 


B.O.  133-121. 

Three  Commissioners  elected  151 

Distribution  of  the  treasures 
of  Pergamus  among  the  Ro- 
man people 151 

Renewed  opposition  to  Tibe- 
rius   151 

He  becomes  a  candidate  for 

the  Tribunate  a  second  time  151 

Riots 152 

Death  of  Tiberius 152 

132.  Return  of  Scipio  to  Rome 153 

He  opposes  the  popular  party  153 


xviii 


CONTENTS. 


B.C.  Page 

129.  Death  of  Scipio 153 

126.  Expulsion  of  the  Allies  from 

Kome 154 

125.  M.  Fulvius  Flaccus   proposes 
to  give  the  franchise  to  the 

Italians 154 

Revolt  and  destruction  of  Fre- 

gellae 154 

128.  C.  Gracchus  goes  to  Sardinia 

as  Qucestor 154 

124  lie  returns  to  Rome. 15T 

128.  He  is  elected  Tribune 157 

His  legislation 157 

L  Laws  for  improving  the 

condition  of  the  people. .    157 
L  Extension    of    the 

Agrarian  Law.. . .    167 
2.  State  provision  for 

the  poor. 157 

8.  Soldiers     equipped 
at  Uie  expense  of 

the  Republic 157 

II.  Laws  to  diminish  the  pow- 
er of  the  Senate. 157 


B.C.  Page 

1.  Transference  of  the 

judicial  power 
from  the  Senators 
to  the  Equites... .  1$7 

2.  Distribution  of  the 

Provinces  before 
the  election  of  the 

Consuls 159 

122.  C.  Gracchus  Tribune  a  second 

time. 158 

Proposes  to  confer  the  citizen- 
ship upon  the  Latin* 153 

Unpopularity  of  this  proposal    153 
The  Tribune  M.  Livius  Dru- 

BUS  outbids  Gracchus 153 

Foundation  of  a  colony  at  Car- 
thage      159 

Decline  of  the  popularity  of 

Gracchus 169 

121.His  murder. ICO 

Cornelia,  the  mother  of  the 
Gracchi 160 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

JCGUBTIIA  AND  BIB   TlMKa      B.C.  118-104 


C.MAKTCS 161 

134     Serves  at  the  siege  of  Nu- 

mantia. 101 

Attracts  the  notice  of  Scipio 

Africanus 161 

119.     Tribune  of  the  Plebs 162 

115.     Prater 162 

149.  Death  of  Masinissa 162 

Accession  of  Micipsa 162 

134.  Jugurtha  serves  at  the  siege 

ofNumantia 162 

118.  Death  of  Micipsa. 162 

Jugurtha  assassinates  Hiemp- 

sal 163 

War  between  Jugurtha  and 

AdherbaL 1G3 

117.  Roman  commissioners  divide 
Numidia  between  Jugurtha 

and  Adherbal 163 

Fresh  war  between  Jugurtha 

and  Adherbal 163 

Siege  of  Cirta 163 

112.  Death  of  Adherbal 163 

111.  The     Romans    declare    war 

against  Jugurtha 163 

Jugurtha  bribes  the  Consul 

Calpurnius  Bestia 103 

Indignation  at  Rome 163 

Jugurtha  comes  to  Rome 164 

111.  He  murders  Massiva 1G4 

Renewal  of  the  war 164 


110.  Incapacity  of  the  Consul  Sp. 

Postumius  Albinus 164 

Defeat  of  his  brother  Aulus. .  164 
109.  Bill  of  the  Tribune  C.  Mamil- 

ius 164 

Many  Romans  condemned 164 

The  Consul  Q.  Caecilius  Metel- 

lus  lands  in  Africa 164 

Accompanied   by   Marius   as 

his  lieutenant. 165 

Metellus  defeats  Jugurtha....  166 

Ambitious  views  of  Marius. . .  165 
108.  He  quits  Africa  and  arrives 

in  Rome. 166 

Is  elected  Consul 166 

Attacks  the  nobility 166 

Campaign  of  Metellus  as  Pro- 
consul   166 

The  people  give  Marius  com- 
mand of  the  Numidian  War  166 
107.  First  Consulship  of  Marius. . .  1G6 

He  arrives  in  Africa 166 

He  defeats  Jugurtha  and  Boc- 

chus,  king  of  Mauritania. . .  167 
106.  Bocchus  surrenders  Jugurtha 
to  Sulla,  the  Quaestor  of  Ma- 
rius   167 

Early  history  of  Sulla. 167 

His  character. 167 

104.  Triumph  of  Marius. 1 63 

His  second  Consulship 163 


CONTENTS. 


xix 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  CIMBBI  AND  TEUTONES,  H.O.  113-101.    SECOND  SEEVILK  WAB  IN  SICILY, 
B.C.  103-101. 


B.O.  Page 

Invasion  of  the  Cimbri  and 

Teutonea 169 

Their  probable  origin 109 

118.  Defeat  of  the  Consul  Cn.  Pa- 

piriusCarbo 169 

103.  Defeat  of  the  Consul  M.  Ju- 

nius  Silanus 169 

10T.  Defeat  of  the  Consul  L.  Cas- 

sius  Longinus 169 

105.  Defeat  of  the  Consul  Cn.  Mal- 
lius  Maximns  and  the  Pro- 
consul Cn.  Serviliua  Ctepio  170 

104.  Second  Consulship  of  Marius    170 
The  Cimbri  invade  Spain. . . .     170 

103.  Third  Consulship  of  Marius. .     170 
102.  Fourth  Consulship  of  Marius    170 
The  Cimbri  return  from  Spain    170 
102.  Marius  takes  up  his  position 

near  Aries 170 


B.C.  Page 

The  Cimbri  enter  Italy  by  the 

I'ass  of  Tridentum 170 

Great  defeat  of  the  Teutones 

by  Marius  at  Aqua  Sextise    171 
101.  Fifth  Consulship  of  Marius. .     171 
Great  defeat  of  the  Teutones 
at  Vercellse  by  Marius  and 

the  Proconsul  Catultm 171 

Triumph  of  Marius  and  Ca- 

tulus 171 

103-101.  Second  Servile  War  in 

Sicily 171 

Tryphon  king  of  the  Slaves. .     172 
Succeeded    by    Athenio     a; 

king 172 

101.  The  Consul  Aquillius  puts  a^ 

end  to  the  war ,    172 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

INTERNAL  HISTOBT  OF  ROME,  FROM  THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  CIMBRI  AND  TEU- 
TONES TO  THE  SOCIAL  WAK.    B.O.  100-91. 


100.  Sixth  Consulship  of  Marius. .  173 
His  league  with  the  dema- 
gogues     Saturninus     and 

Glaucia 173 

Agrarian  Law  of  Saturninus  174 

Banishment  of  Metellus 174 

Saturninus  declared  a  public 

enemy. 174 

lie  is  put  to  death 175 


Marius  visits  the  East. 175 

92.  Condemnation     of     Kutilius 

Rufus 175 

91.  Tribunate  of  M.  Livius  Dru- 

sus 175 

His  measures 176 

Proposes  to  give  the  franchise 

to  the  Italian  allies 176 

His  assassination. 176 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


THB  SOCIAL  OB  MABBIO 

JO.  The  Allies  take  up  arms 178 

The  war  breaks  out  at  Ascu- 

lum  in  Picenum 178 

Corfinium  the  new  capital  of 

the  Italian  confederation. .    178 
Q.  Pompsedius  Silo,  a  Marsian, 

and  C.  Papius   Mutilus,  a 

Samnite,  the  Italian  Consuls    173 
Defeat  and  death  of  the  Roman 

Consul  P.  Rutilius  Lupus. .     179 


WAB.    B.C.  90-89. 

Exploits  of  Marius 179 

The  Lex  Julia 179 

9.  Success  of  the  Romans 180 

The  Lex  Plautia  Papiria 180 

The  franchise  given  to  the 

Allies 180 

All  the  Allies  lay  down  their 
arms  except  the  Samnites 

and  Lucanians ISO 

Ten  new  Tribes  formed ISO 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

FIEST  CIVIL  WAB.    B.C.  88-85. 


B.C.  Page 

88.  Consulship  of  Sulla 181 

Receives  the  command  of  the 
Mithridatic  War 181 

The  Tribune  P.  Sulpicius  Ru- 
fuB 182 

He  proposes  to  distribute  the 
Italians  among  the  thirty- 
five  Tribes 182 

Sulla  flies  from  Rome  to  Nola    182 

The  people  give  Marius  the 
command  of  the  Mithrida- 
tic War 182 

Sulla  marches  upon  Rome. ...    182 

Sulpicius  put  to  death 183 


B.O.  Page 

Marius  flies  from  Rome 183 

His  adventures 183 

Is  seized  at  Miuturusa 183 

Escapes  to  Africa 184 

Sulla  sails  to  the  East 184 

87.  Riots  at  Rome Ib5 

The  Consul  (Jinna  invites  the 

assistance  of  Marius 185 

Marius  and  Cinna  march  upon 

Rome 185 

They  enter  the  city 185 

Proscription  of  their  enemies  1S5 

86.  Seventh  Consulship  of  Marius  185 

llisdeath 188 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


FIRST  MITUKIDATIO 

Kingdom  of  Pontus 186 

Its  history 186 

120.  Accession  of  Mithridates  VI.  186 

His  early  life 186 

His  attainments 1ST 

His  conquests 1ST 

His    disputes   with    the    Ro- 
mans   187 

88.  He  invades  Cappadocia  and 

Bithynia 187 

He  invades  the  Roman  prov- 
ince of  Asia 188 

Massacre  of  Romans  and  Ital- 
ians   188 


WAB.    B.C.  88-S4. 
87.  The  Grecian  states  declare  In 

favor  of  Mithridates 188 

Sulla  lands  in  Epirus 188 

He  lays  siege  to  Athens  und 

the  Piraeus 188 

86.  Takes  these  cities 188 

Defeats  Archelaus,  the  general 

of  Mithridates,  at  Chaeronea    188 
85.  Again   defeats  Archelaus  at 

Orchomenus 189 

84  Peace  with  Mithridates 189 

Sulla    attacks    Fimbria,   the 

Marian  general,  in  Asia.. . .     189 
83.  Ho  returns  to  Italy. 189 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


SECOND  Crm,  WAB. — SULLA'S 

84.  Consulshipof  Cinna  and  Carbo 

Death  of  Cinna 

83.  Consulship  of  Scipio  and  Nor- 

banus 

Preparations  for  war 

The  Italians  support  the  Ma- 
rian party 

Sulla  marches  from  Brundu- 

sium  to  Campania 

Defeats  the  Consul  Norbanus 

Pompey,  Metellus  Pius,  Cras- 

eus<aud  others,  join  Sulla. . 


DicTATOESiiir,  LEGISLATION,  AND  DEATH. 
B.C.  83-78. 

82.  Consulship  of  Papirus  Carbo 

and  the  younger  Marius. . .     191 
Defeat  of  Marius,  who  takes 

refuge  in  Prseneste. 193 

Murder  of  Senators  in  Rome 

by  order  of  Marius 192 

Great  battle  before  the  Colline 
gate  at  Rome  between  Sulla 

and  the  Samnites 192 

Defeat  of  the  Samnites 193 

Surrender  of  Prseneste 193 

Death  of  Marius 193 


190 
190 

190 
191 

191 

191 
191 

192 


CONTENTS. 


xxi 


B.C.  Page 

Endofthewar. 193 

Sulla  master  of  Rome 193 

Proscription 193 

Dreadful  scenes. 194 

81.  Sulla  dictator. 194 

He    celebrates    his    triumph 

over  M  ithridates 194 

His  reforms  in  the  constitution  194 

His  military  colonies 194 

T9.  He  resigns  the  Dictatorship. .  195 

He  retires  to  I'uteoli 195 

7&  His  death. 1!)5 

His  funeral 196 

LEGES  (JOBNEI.I-K — 
I.  Laws  relating  to  the  Con- 
stitution   196 

Deprive  the  Comitia 
Tributa  of  their  leg- 
islativc  and  judicial 

powers 196 

Increase  the  power  of 

the  Senate 19T 


Page 

Increase  the  number 
of  the  Quwstors  and 

Praetors 197 

Deprive  the  Tribunes 

of  all  real  power. . .     1ST 
IL  Lawsrelating  to  tlie Eccle- 
siastical Corporations. .     107 
Repeal  of  the  Lex  Do- 

mitia. 19T 

Increase  of  the  num- 
ber of  Pontiffs  and 
Augura 197 

III.  Laws  relating  to  the  A  d- 

ministralion  of  Justice    197 
Qusestiones  I'erpetuse    197 
Transference   of  the 
Judicia    from    the 
Equites  to  the  Sen- 
ators     198 

IV.  Laws  relating  to  the  im- 

provement   of  Public 
Morals 198 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

FBOM  THE  DEATH  OP  SULLA  TO  TUB  CONSULSUIP  OP  POMPBY  AND  CBASBUS. 
B.C.  78-70. 


78.  Consulship   of  Lspidus    and 

Catulus 199 

Lepidus  attempts  to  repeal 

the  laws  of  Sulla. 199 

Is  opposed  by  Catulus 199 

Is  defeated  at  the  Mulvian 

Bridge. 199 

Retires  to  Sardinia 200 

HU  death 200 

82.  Sertorius  in  Spain 200 

79.  Carries  on  war  against  He- 

tellus.... 200 

CN.  POMPKIUS  MAGNUS.  .....  200 

His  birth. 200 

89.     Fights  against  the  Italians 

under  his  father 200 

83.  Joins  Sulla. 200 

82.     Is  sent  into  Sicily  and  Africa  200 

80.  Enters  Rome  in  triumph. . .  201 
78.     Supports     the     aristocracy 

against  Lepidus 201 

T6.     la  sent  into  Spain  to  assist 

Aletellus .  201 


72.  Assassination  of  Sertorius  by 

Perperna. 202 

71.  Pompey  finishes  the  war  in 

Spain 202 

73.  War  of  the  Gladiators:  Spar- 

tacus 202 

72.  Spartacus  defeats  both  Con- 

suls      202 

71.  Crassus  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  war  against  the 
Gladiators. 202 

Defeats  and  slays  Spartacus    203 

Pompey  cuts  to  pieces  a  body 

of  Gladiators. 203 

70.  Consulship    of  Pompey   and 

Crassus 203 

Pompey  restores  the  Tribuni- 
tian  power. 203 

Law  of  L.  Aurelius  Cotta, 
transferring  the  Judicia  to 
the  Senators,  Equites,  and 
Tribuni  JErarii. ...  .204 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

TntED  OB  GREAT  MITIIKIDATIC  WAR.    B.O.  74-61. 


83.  SECOND  MITIIKIDATIO  WAS — 

Murena  invades  Pontus 205 

B2.  Mithridates   defeats   Murena    205 
End  of  the  Second  Mithridatic 
War 205 


Preparations  of  Mithridatea . .    206 
74.  THIRD  MITUEIDATIO  WAE — 
Mithridates  defeats  the  Con. 

sul  Cotta 200 

He  lays  siege  to  Cyzicus. ....    206 


XX11 


CONTENTS. 


B.O.  Page 

73.  The  siege  is  raised  by  Lucullus    20T 
Lucullus  defeats  Mithridates    207 
71.  Mithridates   takes  refuge  in 

Armenia 20T 

70.  Lncullus  settles  the  affairs  of 

Asia 20T 

69.  He  invades  Armenia  and  de- 
feats Tigrancs 208 

68.  Lucullus  defeats  Tigranes  and 
Mithridates,  and  lays  siege 

toNisibis 208 

67.  Mithridates  returns  to  Pontus, 
and  defeats  the  generals  of 

Lucullus 208 

Mutiny  in  the  army  of  Lucul- 
lus      208 

The  command  of  the  Mithri- 

datic  War  given  to  Glabrio    209 
WAR  WITH  TIIE  PIRATES — 

Account  of  the  Pirates 209 

Command  of  the  war  given 
by  the  Gabinian  Law  to 

Pompey 210 

Success  of  Pompey 210 

He  finishes  the  war 210 

6C.  TllIRD       MlTURIDATIO       \VAB 

CONTINUED 210 


B.O.  Page 

Command  of  the  Mithridatic 
War  given  by  the  Manilian 

Law  to  Pompey 210 

It  is  opposed  by  the  aristocracy  211 

It  is  supported  by  Cicero 211 

Pompey  defeats  Mithridates..  211 
Mithridates   retires   into   the 

Cimmerian  Bosporus 211 

Pompey  invades  Armenia. ...  212 

Submission  of  Tigranes 212 

65.  Pompey  pursues  Mithridates  212 
He  advances   as  far  as  the 

River  Phasis. 212 

He  returns  to  Pontus,  which 
he  reduces  to  the  form  of  a 

Roman  province 212 

64.  He  marches  into  Syria,  which 

he  makes  a  Roman  province  212 
63.  He  subdues  Phoenicia  and  Pal- 
estine   212 

He  takes  Jerusalem 212 

Preparations  of  Mithridates. .  213 

Conspiracy  agaiust  him 213 

Hisdeath 213 

Pompey  settles  the  affairs  of 

Asia 213 

62.  He  returns  to  Italy 213 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

INTERNAL  HISTORY.  FKOM  TIIE  CONSULSHIP  OF  POMPEY  AND  CRASSUS  TO  TUB 

RETURN  OF  POMPEY  FROM  TUB  EAST:  THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  CATILINE. 

B.C.  69-61. 


C.  JULIUS  CAESAR — 

100.     His  birth 214 

His  early  history 214 

Proscribed  by  Sulla 215 

81.     He  serves  in  Asia 215 

77.     Accuses  Dolabella 215 

Taken  by  the  Pirates 215 

75.     Studies  in  Rhodes. 215 

68.     Quaestor 215 

65.     Curule  ^dile 216 

Restores  the  statues  of  Ma- 
rina   216 

M.  TULLIUS  CICERO — 

106.     Hisbirth 216 

89.     Serves  in  the  Social  War. .  216 

81.     His  speech  for  P.  Quintius  216 
80.     His  speech  for  Sex.  Roscius 

ofAmeria 216 

T9.     He  goea  to  Athens 216 


78.     He  studies  in  Rome 216 

77.     He  returns  to  Rome 216 

76.     Quaostor  in  Sicily 217 

70.     He  accuses  Verres 217 

69.     ^Edile 217 

66.     Praetor 217 

He  speaks  on  behalf  of  the 

Manilian  law 217 

65.  First  conspiracy  of  Catiline. .  217 

History  of  Catiline. 218 

63.  Consulship  of  Cicero 219 

Second  conspiracy  of  Catiline  219 

Catiline  quits  Rome 220 

<  )icero  seizes  the  conspirators  220 

They  are  put  to  death 221 

62.  Defeat  and  death  of  Catiline  221 

Popularity  of  Cicero 221 

Remarks  upon  the  punishment 

of  the  conspirators 221 


CHAPTEE  XXXII. 

FKOM  POMPEY'B  RETURN  FROM  THE  EAST  TO  CICERO'S  BANISHMENT  AND  RE- 
CALL.   B.C.  62-57. 


62.  Pompey  arrives  in  Italy 223 

61.  Triumph  of  Pompey 223 

State  of  parties  in  Rome 224 


60.  The  Senate  refuses  to  sanction 

Pompey' s  measures  hi  Asia    224 
62.  Pnetoirhip  of  Caesar 224 


CONTENTS. 


xxiit 


B.O.  Page 

01.  Proprator  in  Spain 224 

CO.  1  lis  victories  in  Spain 224 

Ho  returns  to  Home 225 

FIRST  TRIUMVIRATE 225 

CO.  Consulship  of  Csesar 225 

Agrarian  Law  for  the  division 

of  the  Campanian  laud 225 

Ratification  of  Pompey'a  acts 

inAsia 2:25 

Marriage     of    Julia,    Caesar's 

daughter,  with  Pompey 225 

C»sar  gains  over  the  Kquitcs. .  225 
Vutiuian  Law,  granting  to  Cse- 
sar  the  provinces  of  Cisalpine 


B.O.  Page 

Gaul  and  niyricum  for  five 

years 226 

Transalpine  Gaul  added 22G 

C2.  Clodius  profanes  the  rites  of 

thcBonaDea 226 

61.  His  trial  and  acquittal 22T 

His  enmity  against  Cicero.. . .  22T 

58.  Tribune  of  the  I'leba 227 

He  accuses  Cicero 227 

Banishment  of  Cicero 227 

57.  Riots  at  Rome  between  Clo- 
dius and  Milo 227 

Return  of  Cicero  from  banish- 
ment   228 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

CAMPAIGNS  IN  GAUL.    B.C.  53-51. 


6S.  First  Campaign 220 

He  defeats  the  Helvetii 229 

He   defeats   Ariovistus    and 

the  Germans £30 

57.  Second  Campaign. 230 

The  Belgic  War 230 

Great  victory  over  the  Nervii  230 

56.  Third  Campaign 230 

He  defeats  the  Veneti. 231 

He  defeats  the  Morini  and 

Menapii. 231 

55.  Fourth  Campaign. 231 

Csesar  crosses  the  Rhine. . . .  231 

His  first  invasion  of  Britain  231 

64.  Fifth  Campaign 232 

His  second  invasion  of  Britain  232 

Revolt  of  the  Eburones 232  I 


They  destroy  the  detachment 
of  T.  Titurius  Sabinus  and 
I*  Aunmculeius  Cotta ....  232 

They  attack  the  camp  of  Q. 

Cicero 232 

53.  Sixth  Campaign. 232 

Csesar  puts  down  the  revolt 
in  Gaul 233 

He  crosses  the  Rhine  a  sec- 
ond time 233 

52.  Seventh  Campaign 233 

Revolt  of  all  Gaul 233 

Headed  by  Vercingetorix. . .     283 

Csesar  takes  Alesia  and  Ver- 
cingetorix   234 

51.  Eighth  Campaign 234 

Pacification  of  Gaul 234 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  FROM  THE  RETUBN 
COMMENCEMENT  OF  TUB  CIVIL  WAR: 

B.C.  5 

57.  Cicero  supports  the  Triumvirs    235 
56.  Pompey  nnd  Crassus  meet  C'se- 

sar  at  Luca 230 

Fresh    arrangements    for    the 
continuance  of  their  power. .     230 

53.  Second  Consulship  of  Pompey 

andCrassus 23G 

The  Trebonian  Law,  giving  the 
two  Spains  to  Pompey  and 
Syria  to  Crasaus,  and  pro- 
longing Pompey' s  govern- 
ment for  five  years  more.. . .  236 
Dedication  of  Pom pey's  theatre  236 

54.  Crassus  crosses  the  Euphrates    237 
He  winters  in  Syria 237 

53.  He  again  cresses  the  Euphrates    237 
Is    defeated    and    Blain    near 
CarrhsB ...  237 


OP  CICERO  FBO.M  BANISKMENT  TO  TUB 
EXPEDITION  AND  DBATII  OF  CBASSCS. 
7-50. 

54.Death  of  Julia 237 

53.  Riots  in  Rome 238 

52.  Murder  of  Clodius  by  Milo.. . .     238 

Pompey  sole  Consul 238 

Trial  and  condemnation  of  Milo    238 
51.  Rupture  between   Ciesar   and 

Pompey 239 

Pompey  joins  the  aristocratical 

party 2S9 

49.  Proposition  that  Csesar  should 

lay  down  his  command 240 

The  Senate  invest  the  Consuls 

with  dictatorial  power 240 

The  Tribunes  Antony  and  Cas- 

sius  fly  to  Cscsar's  camp. . . .     240 
Commencement    of  the   Civil 
AVar. ..  240 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  SKCOND  Cmi.  WAR  TO  CJSSAB'B  DEATH.    B.O.  49-44. 


B.C.  Page 

49.  (Caesar  at  Ravenna. 241 

He  crosses  the  Rubicon 241 

Ilia  triumphal  progress  through 

Italy 241 

Pompey  and  his  party  fly  from 

Rome  to  Brundusium 242 

They  are  pursued  by  Caesar. . .  242 

They  embark  for  Greece 242 

Caesar  goes  to  Rome 242 

He  seta  out  for  Spain 242 

lie  conquers  L.  Africanus  and 
M.  Petreius,  Pompey's  lieu- 
tenants in  Spain 243 

Is  appointed  Dictator,  which  of- 
fice he  holds  only  eleven  days  243 

He  takes  Massilia 243 

48.  He  sails  from  Brundusium  to 

Greece 243 

He  besieges  Pompey  at  Dyr- 

rhachium 244 

Is  compelled  to  retire. 244 

Battle  of  Pharsalia,  and  defeat 

of  Pompey. 244 

Pompey  flies  to  Egypt 2-15 

His  death 245 

Cesar  is  appointed  Dictator  a 

second  time 245 

The  Alexandrine  War. 24C 


B.O.  Page 

47.  Conclusion  of  the  Alexandrine 

War 246 

Caesar  marches  into  Pontus  and 

defeats  Pharnaces 246 

He  sails  to  Africa 240 

46.  Battle  of  Thapsus,  and  defeat 

of  the  Pompeians 246 

Siege  of  Utica 247 

Death  of  Cato 247 

Caesar  returns  to  Rome 247 

His  triumph 247 

His  reformation  of  the  Calendar  247 

Insurrection  in  Spain. 248 

Caesar  sets  out  for  Spain 248 

45.  Battle  of  Munda,  and  defeat  of 

the  Pompeians 248 

Cnesar  returns  to  Rome 248 

He  is  undisputed  master  of  the 

Roman  world 248 

Honors  conferred  upon  him... .  243 

Use  he  made  of  his  power 243 

Ilia  vast  projects. 249 

44.  Conspiracy  against  Caesar's  life  249 

Brutus  and  Cassias 249 

Assassination  of  Caesar  on  the 

IdesofMarch 250 

Reflections  on  his  death 250 

His  character  and  genius 250 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

FEOM  THE  DEATH  OF  C.ESAB  TO  TUB  BATTLE  OF  PITLLIPPI.    B.C.  44-42. 


44.  Proceedings  of  the  conspirators  252 

Antony  and  Lepidus 252 

Pretended  reconciliation. 253 

Caesar's  wfll 253 

His  funeral 263 

Popularindignationagainst  the 

conspirators 253 

They  fly  from  Rome 553 

OCTAVIUS,  Caasar's  nephew,  at 

Illyricum 253 

If  made  Caesar's  heir 253 

He  proceeds  to  Rome 254 

His  opposition  to  Antony 254 

He  courts  the  Senate £5i 

Antony  proceeds  to  Cisalpine 

Gaul,amllay3sief»etoMutiua  254 

43.  Cicero's  second  Philippic 254 

Octavian  and  the  Con.-uls  Hir- 

tiusand  1'ansa  march  against 

Ant>>v 255 


They  attack  Antony 255 

Death  of  Hirtius  and  Pansa. . .  255 
Antony  is  defeated,  and  crosses 

the  Alps 255 

Octavian  marches  to  Rome... .  255 

Is  declared  Consul. 255 

Breaks  with  the  Senate,  and 
outlaws    the    murderers    of 

Cresar. 255 

Marches  against  Antony  and 

Lepidus 255 

Is  reconciled  with  them 256 

SECOND  TRIUMVIRATE. 256 

The  Triumvirs  enter  Rome —  256 

Dreadful  Scenes £56 

Death  of  Cicero 257 

Sextua  Pompey  master  of  Sicily 

and  the  Mediterranean £57 

He  defeats  the  fleet  of  the  Tri- 
umvirs   257 


CONTENTS. 


xx> 


Pago 
Brutus  obtains  possession  of 

Macedonia. 25S 

Cassius,  of  Syria. 258 

Their  proceedings  in  the  East    '-58 
They  plunder  Asia  Minor 268 


n.a  Page 

42.  They  return  to  Europe  to  meet 

the  Triumvirs 253 

Battle  of  PhilippL 261 

Death  of  Brutus  and  Cassius    261 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 


FBOM  THE  BATTLE  OP  PIIILIITI  TO  THE  BATTLE  OP  AOTIUM.    B.O.  41-30. 

37.  Antony  comes  toTarentum. .     2C6 

266 


262 
202 


41.  Antony  remains  in  the  East 
He  meets  Cleopatra  at  Tarsus 
Ho  accompanies  her  to  Alex- 
andria      263 

Octavian  returns  to  Rome. . . .     263 

Confusion  in  Italy 263 

Confiscation  of  lands 263 

Fulvia,  the  wife  of  Antony, 
and  L.  Antonius,  his  broth- 
er, rise  against  Antony 263 

They  take  refuge  in  1'erusia    263 
40.  Capture  of  Perusia,  and  end 

ofthewar 263 

The  Parthians  invade  Syria. .    264 
Antony  joins  Sextus  Pompey 
and  lays  siege  to  Brundu- 

sium 264 

Reconciliation  between  An- 
tony and  Octavian 264 

Fresh  division  of  the  Roman 

world. 264 

Antony  marries  Octavia 264 

89.  Peace  with  Sextus  Pompey  at 

Misenum 264 

Ventidius,  the  Legate  of  An- 
tony, defeats  the  Parthians    265 
38.  lie  again  defeats  the  Parthians    2G5 

Death  of  Pacorus 265 

War  with  Sextus  Pompey. ...    265 
He  destroys  the  fleet  of  Octa- 
vian     265 


Triumvirate  renewed  for  an- 
other period  of  five  years. . 
36.  Renewal  of  the  war  with  Sex- 
tus Pompey 266 

His  defeat 266 

He  flies  to  Asia 266 

Lepidus  deprived  of  his  Tri- 
umvirate   266 

35.  Death  of  Pompey 266 

36.  Antony  joins  Cleopatra 267 

His  infatuation 267 

He  invades  Parthia 267 

His  disastrous  retreat 26T 

34  lie  invades  Armenia 267 

Octavian  subdues  the  Dalma- 
tians   267 

His  prudent  conduct 267 

33.  Rupture  between  Octavian  and 

Antony 267 

82.  War  against  Cleopatra 268 

31.  Battle  of  Actium 268 

Defeat  of  Antony 268 

He  flies  to  Alexandria 2C8 

30.  DeathofAntonyandCleopatra  269 

Egypt  made  a  Roman  province  269 

End  of  the  Republic 269 

29.  Triumph  of  Octavian 269 

27.  He  receives  the  title  of  Au- 
gustus   270 

His  policy 270 


CHAPTER  XXXVIIL 

SrarrcH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OP  ROMAN  LITERATURE  FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMM 
TO  TUB  DEATH  OF  AUGUSTUS. 


POETRY — 

Satnrnian  Metre 272 

Commencement     of    Roman 
Literature 272 

The  Drama — 

S40.         M.  Livius  Andronicus 272 

235.         Cn.  Najvius 273 

239-169.  Q.  Ennius 273 


254-184.  T.  Maccius  Plautus 273 

195-159.  P.  Terentius  Afer 274 

160.         Q.  Cmcilius 274 

100.         I*  Afraniug 274 

220-1  SO.  M.  Pacuvius 275 

170-90.    L.  Accius. 275 

Comcedice  Togatce 274 

Comoedice  PaUiatce 274 


xxvi 


CONTENTS. 


B.C.  Page 

Comaedice  PrmtextatO! 275 

A  tellance  Fabulce. 275 

Mimes 275 

60.     Dec.  Labcrius 275 

P.  Syrus 275 

Fescennine  Songs. 276 

Satire 276 

148-103.  C.  Lucilius 276 

95-51.  T.  Lucretius  Cams 276 

87-47.  Valerius  Catullus 276 

70-19.  P.  Virgilius  Maro 277 

C5-S.  Q.  Horatius  Flaccus 278 

30.  Albius  Tibullus 280 

Aurelius  Propertius 280 


M.O.  A.n.  Pag« 

43-18.  P.  Ovidius  Naso. 28 1 

B.C. 

PBOSE  WRITERS — 

The  AnnaliKts 232 

210.         Q.  Fabius  Victor 282 

L.  Cinciua  Alimentus 282 

234-1 40.  M.  Porcius  Cato 282 

106-43.  M.  Tullius  Cicero 282 

117-'2S.  M.  Terentius  Varro 283 

100-4  \.  C.  Julius  Caesar. 283 

86-34.  C.  Sallustius  Crispua 284 

Cornelius  Ncpos 284 

B.O.  A.D. 

59-17.  Titua  Livius 284 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

THE  RBIGN  OF  AUGUSTUS  C^ESAE.    B.C.  31-A.D.  14 

Conduct  of  Augustus 286    Augustus  in  Spain 291 

His  friends 286    His  family 291 

Police  of  Rome 286    His  wife,  Livia 292 

Condition  of  the  empire 287    Marcellus,  Julia,  Tiberius 292 

Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain 287    Caius  and  Lucius  Caesar 293 

Africa 288    Birth  of  the  Savior 293 

Egypt  and  Greece 288    Death  of  Augustus 294 

Boundaries  of  the  empire 289     II  is  character  and  personal  appear- 

Tlie  Praetorian  guard 290        ance 294 

Army  and  navy. , 290 

CHAPTER  XL. 

FBOM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  TIBEEIUS,  A.D.  14-37,  TO  DOMITTAN,  A.D.  96. 

Accession  of  Tiberius 295    His  conduct 300 

Gcrmanicus 296    The  Kmperor  Nero SOI 

His  death 296    His  crimes 301 

The  Lex  Majestas. 297    Vitellius 302 

The  Delatores 297    Vespasian 303 

Sejanus 297    Fall  of  Jerusalem. 303 

Death  of  Sejanus 298    Reign  of  Titus 304 

Death  of  Tiberius 299    The  Colosseum 304 

Caligula. 299    Reign  of  Domitian 305 

Claudius 300    He  persecutes  the  Christians 305 

CHAPTER  XLL 

PBOSPEEITY  OF  THE  EMPIEE,  A.D.  96 COMMODUB,  A.D.  180. — REIGN  OF  M. 

COOCEIUS  NEEVA,  A.D.  96-98. 

The  Emperor  Nerva 306    His  death 312 

Prosperity  of  the  empire 306    Antoninus  Pius 313 

Trajan 307    His  excellent  character 313 

His  wise  administration 307    Marcus  Aurelius 314 

TheDacianwar 308    His  conduct 315 

Conquests  in  the  ICast SOS    He  defeats  the  Barbarians 316 

Trajan's  public  works 309    The  depraved  Commodus. 316 

Reign  of  Hadrian 309    His  vices 316 

Ilia  travels 310    Is  assassinated 316 


CONTENTS. 


xxvii 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

FROM  PEETINAX  TO  DIOCLETIAN.    A.D.  192-284 


Page 

Pertinax  made  emperor. 3 

Is  assassinated 319 

Didius  Julianus 319 

Severus 320 

]  lid  severe  rule 320 

Geta  and  Caracalla 321 

1'apinian  executed 321 

Cruelties  of  Caracalla. 322 

Elagabalus 322 


Page 

Alexander  Severus 322 

Maximin 323 

The  Goths  invade  the  empire. . . .  324 

Valerian 325 

Thirty  tyrants 325 

Zenobia 325 

Aurelian. 325 

The  Emperor  Tacitus 326 

Frugal  habits  of  Carus 326 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

FEOM  DIOCLETIAN,  A.D.  284,  TO  CONSTANTINE'S  DEATH,  A.D.  337. 


Diocletian 327 

Ills  colleagues 328 

Persecution  of  the  Christians 329 

Abdication  of  Diocletian 329 

Constantino  the  Great 330 

Ilia  administration 331 

The  Council  of  Nice 332 


Constantinople 332 

Its  magnificence 333 

The  prefectures 334 

Christianity  the  national  religion  334 

Taxes 334 

Family  of  Constantino. 335 

He  is  baptized  and  dies 335 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

FKOM  THE  DEATH  OF  CONBTANTINE,  A.D.  337,  TO  ROMULUS  ACGUSTULUS, 
A.D.  476. 


The  three  sons  of  Constantino "30 

Constantiua  jealous  of  Julian. ....  337 

Julian  becomes  emperor. 337 

Attempts  to  restore  Paganism... .  337 

Valentinian 333 

The  Huns  appear  in  Europe. 338 

The  Goths  cross  the  Danube 338 

Theodoaius  the  Great 339 

Stilicho 339 


Alaric  enters  Italy 340 

Luxury  of  the  Romans 340 

Sack  of  Rome 341 

Arcadius  and  Honorius 341 

The  Vandals. 342 

The  Huns 342 

Romulus  Augustulus 343 

Extinction  of  the  Empire  of  the 

West 343 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

ROMAN  LITERATURE  DNDEE  THE  EMPIRE.    A.D.  14-476. 


Decline  of  letters 344 

Epic  poetry — Lucan 344 

Silius  Italicus 344 

Claudian 345 

Persia?,  Juvenal 3-15 

Martial 34G 

History — Velleius  Paterculus 346 

Valerius  Maximus 346 

Tacitus. 34T 

Quintus  Curtius 347 


Rhetoric — Seneca  the  elder. 348 

Quintilian 348 

Appuleins. 349 

Philosophy — Seneca 349 

The  elder  Pliny 349 

His  nephew. 250 

Grammarians — Macrobius 350 

Marcellinus 350 

Legal  writers — Gsiius 350 

Science  and  art. 351 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTBATIONS. 


The  Roman  Forum 

Puteal  on  a  Coin  of  the  Scribonia  Gens 
Map  of  Italy. 

Page 

Temple  of  Janus vi 

Julius  Caesar vii 

Virgil xxx 

Tivoli,  the  ancient  Tibur 1 

Gate  of  Arpinum. 6 

The  Alhan  Hills 7 

Han  of  the  City  of  Romulua 11 

Salii  carrying  the  Aucilia 13 

Arch  of  Volaterrae 15 

Pons  Suhlici  us,  restored  by  Canina  10 

Cloaca  Maxima 17 

Map  of  Rome,  showing  the  Servian 

Wall  and  the  Seven  Hills 21 

Coin  representing  the  children  of 

Urutus  led  to  death  by  Lictors..  28 

The  Campagna  of  Rome 29 

The  Environs  of  Rome 83 

Tarpeian  Rock 30 

View    in    the    neighborhood    of 

Veii 41 

Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  re- 
stored    45 

Ruins  at  Capua 52 

Coin  of  Pyrrhus 60 

Temple  of  Vesta 67 

Mount  Ercta  in  Sicily 63 

Columna  Rostrata 71 

Plan  of  Mount  Ercta 76 

Coin  of  Carthage 7T 

Coin  of  Hiero 81 

Lake  Trasimenus 82 

Map  of  the  coasts  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, illustrating  the  history 

of  the  Punic  Wars 85 

Route  of  Hannibal 89 

Plain  of  Cannae 91 

Hannibal 99 

The  Capitoline  Wolf. 105 

Coin  of  Antiochus  the  Great 106 

Roman  Soldiers 113 

Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus. . . .  115 

Lictors 116 

A  Roman  general  addressing  the 

soldiers 125 

Scipio  Africanus 126 


.  FBONTIBPIJSCS. 
.    TITLE-PAGE. 


Page 
Island  in  the  Tiber,  with  the  Fa- 

brician  and  Cestian  Bridges. ...  134 

Plan  of  Carthage 141 

Personification  of  the  River  Tiber  143 

Stairs  of  the  modern  CapitoL 148 

The  Forum  in  its  present  state....  155 

Temple  of  Saturn  at  Rome. 160 

A  Roman  Trophy 161 

Cains  Marius 169 

Tomb  of  Metella  Cascilia 173 

Beneventum  in  Samnium 177 

Coin  of  the  Eight  Italian  Nations 

taking  the  Oath  of  Federation. .  178 

Terracina 181 

Mount  Argseus  in  Cappadocia 186 

Coin  of  Nicomedes  III.,  king  of 

Bithynia 189 

Brundusium 190 

Coin  of  Sulla 198 

Cn.  Pompeius  Magnus 199 

Temple  of  Pudicitia  Patricia  at 

Rome 204 

Coin  of  Mithridates 205 

Coin  of  Tigranes 207 

Cicero 214 

CoinofPompey 222 

Julius  Caesar 223 

Temple  of  Hercules  at  Rome 228 

Temple  of  Nemausus  (Nimes),  now- 
called  the  Maison  Carrie 229 

Ruins  on  the  Esquiline 235 

Marcus  Brutus 241 

Coin  of  Julius  Caesar 250 

Statue  of  a  Roman,  representing 

theToga 251 

M.  Antoniua 252 

Philippi 259 

Com  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra. ...  261 

M.  Agrippa 262 

Plan  of  Actium 268 

Map  of  the  Provinces  of  the  Ro, 

man  Empire 271 

Horace 272 

Maecenas 285 

Aureus  of  Augustus  Ciesar. 286 


XXX 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 

Gold  Coin  of  Agrippa 2'.»2 

The  Carpentum  or  Chariot 293 

Medal  of  Augustus 294 

Medal  of  Nero -. . .  295 

lioman  Galley 299 

Copper  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius  . . .  306 

Trajan's  Pillar 308 

Hadrian's  Mausoleum  restored 311 

Iteverse  of  a  Brass  Coin  of  Antoni- 

nua  Pius 313 

Commodus 317 

Pertinax 318 

Septimius  Severua 319 


Page 

Caracalla 321 

Alexander  Severns 323 

Court-yard  of  Diocletian's  Palace 

at  Spolatro 32T 

Constantino  and  Fausta 330 

Arch  of  Constantino 331 

Map  of  the  Propontis,  Hellespont, 

and  Bosphorus 333 

Map  of  Constantinople 333 

Julian  the  Apostate 336 

Juvenal 351 

Coin  of  Augustus 36P 


VirgiL 


HISTORY  OF  ROME, 


Tivoli,  the  ancient  Tibur. 


CHAPTER   I. 

GEOGRAPHY    OF    ITALY  —  EARLY    INHABITANTS. 

ITALY  is  the  central  one  of  the  three  great  peninsulas  which 
project  from  the  soutli  of  Europe  into  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  It 
is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  chain  of  the  Alps,  which  form  a 
natural  barrier,  and  it  is  surrounded  on  other  sides  by  the  sea.  Its 
shores  arc  washed  on  the  west  by  the  "  Mare  Inferum,"  or  the  Low- 
er Sea,  and  on  the  east  by  the  Adriatic,  called  by  the  Romans  tho 
"Mare  Superum,"  or  the  Upper  Sea.  It  may  be  divided  into  two 
parts,  the  northern  consisting  of  the  great  plain  drained  by  the  Riv- 
er Padus,  or  Po,  and  its  tributaries,  and  the  southern  being  a  long 
tongue  of  land,  with  the  Apennines  as  a  back-bone  running  down 
A 


2  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  r. 

its  whole  extent  from  north  to  south.  The  extreme  length  of  the 
peninsula  from  the  Alps  to  the  Straits  of  Messina  is  700  miles. 
The  breadth  of  northern  Italy  is  350  miles,  while  that  of  the  south- 
ern portion  is  on  an  average  not  more  than  100  miles.  But,  till 
the  time  of  the  Empire,  the  Romans  never  included  the  plain  of 
the  Po  in  Italy.  To  this  country  they  gave  the  general  name  of 
GALLIA  CISALFINA,  or  Gaul  on  this  (the  Roman)  side  of  the  Alps, 
n  consequence  of  its  being  inhabited  by  Gauls.  The  western- 
most portion  of  the  plain  was  peopled  by  Ligurian  tribes,  and  was 
therefore  called  LIGURIA,  while  its  eastern  extremity  formed  the 
Roman  province  of  VENETIA. 

The  name  ITALIA  was  originally  applied  to  a  very  small  tract 
of  country.  It  was  at  first  confined  to  the  southern  portion  of  Ca- 
labria, and  was  gradually  extended  northward,  till  about  the  time 
of  the  Punie  wars  it  indicated  the  whole  peninsula  south  of  the 
Rivers  Rubicon  and  Macra,  the  former  separating  Cisalpine  Gaul 
and  Umbria,  the  latter  Liguria  and  Etruria.  Italy,  properly  so 
called,  is  a  very  mountainous  country,  being  filled  up  more  or  less 
by  the  broad  mass  of  the  Apennines,  the  offshoots  or  lateral  branch- 
es of  which,  in  some  parts,  descend  quite  to  the  sea,  but  in  others 
leave  a  considerable  space  of  level  or  low  country.  Excluding  tho 
plain  of  the  Po,  it  was  divided  into  the  following  districts:* 

1.  ETRDRIA,  which  extended  along  the  coast  of  the  Lower  Sea 
from  the  River  Macra  on  the  north  to  the  Tiber  on  the  south.     In- 
land, the  Tiber  also  formed  its  eastern  boundary,  dividing  it  first 
from  Umbria,  afterward  from  the  Sabines,  and,  lastly,  from  Latium. 
Its  inhabitants  were  called  Etrusci,  or  Tusci,  the  latter  form  being 
still  preserved  in  the  name  of  Tuscany.     Besides  the  Tiber  it  pos- 
sesses only  one  other  river  of  any  importance,  the  Arnus,  or  Arno, 
upon  which  the  city  of  Florence  now  stands.     Of  its  lakes  the  most 
considerable  is  the  Lacus  Trasimenus,  about  thirty-six  miles  in  cir- 
cumference, celebrated  for  the  great  victory  which  Hannibal  there 
gained  over  the  Romans. 

2.  UMBRIA,  situated  to  the  cast  of  Etruria,  and  extending  from 
the  valley  of  the  Tiber  to  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic.     It  was  sep- 
arated on  the  north  from  Gallia  Cisalpina  by  the  Rubicon,  and  on 
the  south  by  the  JEsis  from  Picenum,  and  by  the  Nar  from  the  Sa- 
bines 

3.  PICENUM  extended  along  the  Adriatic  from  the  mouth  of  the 
JEsis  to  that  of  the  Matrinus,  and  inland  as  far  as  the  central  ridge 
of  the  Apennines.     It  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  Umbria,  on 
the  south  by  the  Vestini,  and  on  the  west  by  Umbria  and  the  Sa- 

•  Tho  description  which  fullowd  iu  tho  text  must  be  compared  with  tho  map 
of  Ituly  given  iu  this  work. 


CHAP.  I.  GEOGltAPllY  OF  ITALY.  3 

bini.     Its  inhabitants,  the  Picentcs,  were  a  Sabine  race,  as  is  men- 
tioned below. 

4.  The  SAIHNI  inhabited  the  rugged  mountain-country  in  the 
central  chain  of  the  Apennines,  lying  between  Etruria,  Umbria, 
Pieenum,  Latium,  and  the   country  of  the   Marsi   and  Vestini. 
They  were  one  of  the  most  ancient  races  of  Italy,  and  the  progen- 
itors of  the  far  more  numerous  tribes  which,  under  the  names  of 
Picentes,  Peligni,  and  Samnites,  spread  themselves  to  the  east  and 
south.     Modern  writers  have  given  the  general  name  of  Sabelliam 
to  all  these  tribes.     The  Sabines,  like  most  other  mountaineers, 
were  brave,  hardy,  and  frugal ;  and  even  the  Komans  looked  up 
to  them  with  admiration  on  account  of  their  proverbial  honesty 
and  temperance. 

5.  The  MARSI,  PELIGNI,  VESTINI,  and  MARRUCINI  inhabited  the 
valleys  of  the  central  Apennines,  and  were  closely  connected,  being 
probably  all  of  Sabine  origin.     The  MARSI  dwelt  inland  around 
the  basin  of  the  Lake  Fuclnus,  which  is  about  thirty  miles  in  cir- 
cumference, and  the  only  one  of  any  extent  in  the  central  Apen- 
nines.    The  PELIGNI  also  occupied  an  inland  district  east  of  the 
MARSI.     The  VESTINI  dwelt  cast  of  the  Sabines,  and  possessed  on 
the  coast  of  the  Adriatic  a  narrow  space  between  the  mouth  of  the 
Matrinus  and  that  of  the  Aternus,  a  distance  of  about  six  miles. 
The  MARRUCINI    inhabited  a  narrow  strip  of  country  on  the  Adri- 
atic, east  of  the  Peligni,  and  were  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
Vestini  and  on  the  south  by  the  Frentani.    n 

G.  The  FUENTANI  dwelt  upon  the  coast  of  the  Adriatic  from  the 
frontiers  of  the  Marrucini  to  those  of  Apulia.  They  were  bounded 
on  the  west  by  the  Samnites,  from  whom  they  were  originally  de- 
scended, but  they  appear  in  Roman  history  as  an  independent  pec- 
pie. 

7.  LATIUM  was  used  in  two  senses.  It  originally  signified  only 
the  land  of  the  Latini,  and  was  a  country  of  small  extent,  bounded 
by  the  Tiber  on  the  north,  by  the  Apennines  on  the  east,  by  the 
sea  on  the  west,  and  by  the  Alban  Hills  on  the  south.  But  after 
the  conquest  of  the  Volscians,  Hernici,  ^Equians,  and  other  tribes, 
originally  independent,  the  name  of  Latium  was  extended  to  all 
the  country  which  the  latter  had  previously  occupied.  It  was  thus 
applied  to  the  whole  region  from  the  borders  of  Etruria  to  those  or 
Campania,  or  from  the  Tiber  to  the  Liris.  The  original  abode  of 
the  Latins  is  of  volcanic  origin.  The  Alban  Mountains  are  a  grear 
volcanic  mass,  and  several  of  the  craters  have  been  filled  with  wa- 
ter, forming  lakes,  of  which  the  Alban  Lake  is  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable. The  plain  in  which  Rome  stands,  now  called  the  Cam- 
not  an  unbroken  level,  but  a  broad  undulating  tract,  in- 


4  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CIIAI-.  I. 

tersected  by  numerous  streams,  which  have  cut  themselves  deep 
channels  through  the  soft  volcanic  tufa  of  which  the  soil  is  com- 
posed. The  climate  of  Latium  was  not  healthy  even  in  ancient 
times.  The  malaria  of  the  Campagna  renders  Rome  itself  un- 
healthy in  the  summer  and  autumn;  and  the  Pontine  Marshes, 
which  extend  along  the  coast  in  the  south  of  Latium  for  a  distance 
of  thirty  miles,  are  still  more  pestilential. 

8.  CAMPANIA  extended  along  the  coast  from  the  Liris,  which 
separated  it  from  Latium,  to  the  Silarus,  which  formed  the  bound- 
ary of  Lucania.     It  is  the  fairest  portion  of  Italy.     The  greater 
part  of  it  is  an  unbroken  plain,  celebrated  in  ancient  as  well  as  in 
modern  times  for  its  extraordinary  beauty  and  fertility.     The  Bay 
of  Naples — formerly  called  Sinus  Cumanus  and  Puteolanus,  from 
the  neighboring  cities  of  Cuma  and  Puteoli  —  is  one  of  the  most 
lovely  spots  in  the  world ;  and  the  softness  of  its  climate,  as  well 
as  the  beauty  of  its  scenery,  attracted  the  Roman  nobles,  who  had 
numerous  villas  along  its  coasts. 

9.  SAMNIUM  was  an  inland  district,  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
Marsi  and  Peligni,  on  the  east  by  the  Frentani  and  Apulia,  on  the 
west  by  Latium  and  Campania,  and  on  the  south  by  Lucania.     It 
is  a  mountainous  country,  being  entirely  filled  with  the  masses  of 
the  Apennines.     Its  inhabitants,  the  Samnites,  were  of  Sabine  ori- 
gin, as  has  been  already  mentioned,  and  they  settled  in  the  coun- 
try at  a  comparatively  late  period.     They  were  one  of  the  most 
warlike  races  in  Italy,  and  carried  on  a  long  and  fierce  struggle 
with  the  Romans. 

10.  APULIA  extended  along  the  coast  of  the  Adriatic  from  the 
Frentani  on  the  north  to  Calabria  on  the  south,  and  was  bounded 
on  the  west  by  the  Apennines,  which  separated  it  from  Samnium 
and  Lucania.     It  consists  almost  entirely  of  a  great  plain,  sloping 
down  from  the  Apennines  to  the  sea. 

11.  CALAURIA  formed  the  heel  of  Italy,  lying  south  of  Apulia, 
and  surrounded  on  every  other  side  by  the  sea.     It  contains  no 
mountains,  and  only  hills  of  moderate  elevation,  the  Apennines 
running  to  the  southwest  through  Lucania  and  the  Bruttii. 

12.  LUCAMA  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  Campania  and  Sam- 
iiiuni,  on  the  east  by  Apulia,  and  on  the  south  by  the  Bruttii.     The 
Apennines  run  through  the  province  in  its  whole  extent.    The  Lu- 
canians  were  a  branch  of  the  Samnite  nation,  which  separated 
from  the  main  body  of  that  people,  and  pressed  on  still  farther  to 
the  south. 

13.  The  BKUTTII*  inhabited  the  southern  extremity  of  Italy,  ly- 

*  The  name  "  Brnttium,"  given  to  the  country  by  modern  writers  on  ancient 
geography,  is  not  found  in  any  classical  author. 


CHAP.  1.  EARLY  INHABITANTS.  5 

ing  south  of  Lucania ;  and,  like  Lucnnia,  their  country  is  traversed 
throughout  by  the  chain  of  the  Apennines. 

Italy  has  been  in  all  ages  renowned  for  its  beauty  and  fertility. 
The  lofty  ranges  of  the  Apennines,  and  the  seas  which  bathe  its 
shores  on  both  sides,  contribute  at  once  to  temper  and  vary  its  cli- 
mate, so  as  to  adapt  it  for  the  productions  alike  of  the  temperate 
nnd  the  warmest  parts  of  Europe.  In  the  plains  on  either  side  of 
the  Apennines  corn  is  produced  in  abundance ;  olives  flourish  on 
the  southern  slopes  of  the  mountains ;  and  the  vine  is  cultivated 
in  every  part  of  the  peninsula,  the  vineyards  of  northern  Campania 
being  the  most  celebrated  in  antiquity. 

The  early  inhabitants  of  Italy  may  be  divided  into  three  great 
classes — the  Italians  proper,  the  lapyyians,  and  the  Etruscans,  who 
are  clearly  distinguished  from  each  other  by  their  respective  lan- 
guages. 

(1.)  The  Italians  proper  inhabited  the  centre  of  the  peninsula. 
They  were  divided  into  two  branches,  the  Latins  and  the  Umbro- 
Sabellians,  including  the  Umbrians,  Sabines,  Samnites,  and  their 
numerous  colonies.  The  dialects  of  the  Latins  and  Umbro-Sabel- 
lians,  though  marked  by  striking  differences,  still  show  clearest 
evidence  of  a  common  origin,  and  both  are  closely  related  to  the 
Greek.  It  is  evident  that  at  some  remote  period  a  race  migrated 
from  the  East,  embracing  the  ancestors  of  both  the  Greeks  and 
Italians  —  that  from  it  the  Italians  branched  off —  and  that  they 
again  were  divided  into  the  Latins  on  the  west  and  the  Umbrians 
and  Sabellians  on  the  east. 

(2.)  The  lapygians  dwelt  in  Calabria,  in  the  extreme  southeast 
corner  of  Italy.  Inscriptions  in  a  peculiar  language  have  here 
been  discovered,  clearly  showing  that  the  inhabitants  belonged  to 
a  different  race  from  those  whom  we  have  designated  as  the  Ital- 
ians. They  were  doubtless  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  Italy,  who 
were  driven  toward  the  extremity  of  the  peninsula  as  the  Latins 
and  Sabellians  pressed  farther  to  the  south. 

(3.)  The  Etruscans,  or,  as  they  called  themselves,  Rasena,  form  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  Latins  and  Sabellians  as  well  as  to  the 
Greeks.  Their.language  is  radically  different  from  the  other  lan- 
guages of  Italy ;  and  their  manners  and  customs  clearly  prove  them 
to  be  a  people  originally  quite  distinct  from  the  Greek  and  Italian 
races.  Their  religion  was  of  a  gloomy  character,  delighting  in 
mysteries  and  in  wild  and  horrible  rites.  Their  origin  is  unknown. 
Most  ancient  writers  relate  that  the  Etruscans  were  Lydians  who 
had  migrated  by  sea  from  Asia  to  Italy ;  but  this  is  very  improba- 
ble, and  it  is  now  more  generally  believed  that  the  Etruscans  de- 
scended into  Italy  from  the  Rhaetian  Alps.  It  is  expressly  stated 


6 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


CHAP.  L 


by  ancient  writers  that  the  Rhaetians  were  Etruscans,  and  that 
they  spoke  the  same  language ;  while  their  name  is  perhaps  the 
same  as  that  of  Rasena,  the  native  name  of  the  Etruscans.  In 
more  ancient  times,  before  the  Roman  dominion,  the  Etruscans  in- 
habited not  only  the  country  called  Etruriu,  but  also  the  groat 
plain  of  the  Po,  as  far  as  the  foot  of  the  Alps.  Here  they  main- 
tained their  ground  till  they  were  expelled  or  subdued  by  the  in- 
vading Gauls.  The  Etruscans,  both  in  the  north  of  Italy  and  to 
the  south  of  the  Apennines,  consisted  of  a  confederacy  of  twelve 
cities,  each  of  which  was  independent,  possessing  the  power  of  even 
making  war  and  peace  on  its  own  account.  In  Etruria  proper 
Volsinii  was  regarded  as  the  metropolis. 

Besides  these  three  races,  two  foreign  races  also  settled  in  the 
peninsula  in  historical  times.  These  are  the  Creeks  and  the  Gauls. 

(4.)  The  Greeks  planted  so  many  colonies  upon  the  coasts  of 
southern  Italy  that  they  gave  to  that  district  the  name  of  Magna 
Gracia.  The  most  ancient,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  north- 
erly Greek  city  in  Italy,  was  Cuma3  in  Campania.  Most  of  the 
other  Greek  colonies  were  situated  farther  to  the  south,  where 
many  of  them  attained  to  great  power  and  opulence.  Of  these, 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  were  Tarentum,  Sybaris,  Croton, 
and  Metapontum. 

(5.)  The  Gauls,  as  we  have  already  said,  occupied  the  greater 
part  of  northern  Italy,  and  were  so  numerous  and  important  as  to 
give  to  the  whole  basin  of  the  Po  the  name  of  Gallia  Cisalpina. 
They  were  of  the  same  race  with  the  Gauls  who  inhabited  the 
country  beyond  the  Alps,  and  their  migration  and  settlement  in 
Italy  were  referred  by  the  Roman  historian  to  the  time  of  the  Tar- 
quins. 


Gate  of  Arpinum. 


The  Alban  Hills. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   FIRST  FOUR    KINGS   OF   ROME.       B.C.  753-616. 

THE  history  of  Rome  is  that  of  a  city  which  originally  had  only 
a  fow  miles  of  territory,  and  gradually  extended  its  dominions  at 
first  over  Italy  and  then  over  the  civilized  world.  The  city  lay  in 
the  central  part  of  the  peninsula,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tiber, 
and  about  fifteen  miles  from  its  mouth.  Its  situation  was  upon 
the  borders  of  three  of  the  most  powerful  races  in  Italy,  the  Latins, 
Sabines,  and  Etruscans.  Though  originally  a  Latin  town,  it  re- 
ceived at  an  early  period  a  considerable  Sabine  population,  which 
left  a  permanent  impression  upon  the  sacred  rites  and  religious 
institutions  of  the  people.  The  Etruscans  exercised  less  influence 
upon  Rome,  though  it  appears  nearly  certain  that  a  part  of  its  pop- 
ulation was  of  Etruscan 'origin,  and  that  the  two  Tarquins  repre- 
sent the  establishment  of  an  Etruscan  dynasty  at  Rome.  The 
population  of  the  city  may  therefore  be  regarded  as  one  of  mixed 
origin,  consisting  of  the  three  elements  of  Latins,  Sabines,  and 
Etruscans,  but  the  last  in  much  smaller  proportion  than  the  other 
two.  That  the  Latin  element  predominated  over  the  Sabine  is 
also  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  language  of  the  Romans  waa  s 
Latin  and  not  a  Sabellian  dialect. 


8  IIIbTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  II. 

The  early  history  of  Home  is  given  in  an  unbroken  narrative  by 
the  Roman  writers,  and  was  received  by  the  Romans  themselves  aa 
a  faithful  record  of  facts.  But  it  can  no  longer  be  regarded  in  that 
light.  Not  only  is  it  full  of  marvelous  tales  and  poetical  embel- 
lishments, of  contradictions  and  impossibilities,  but  it  wants  the 
very  foundation  upon  which  all  history  must  be  based.  The  read- 
er, therefore,  must  not  receive  the  history  of  the  first  four  centuries 
of  the  city  as  a  statement  of  undoubted  facts,  though  it  has  un- 
questionably preserved  many  circumstances  which  did  actually  oc- 
cur. It  is  not  until  we  come  to  the  war  with  Pyrrhus  that  we  can 
place  full  reliance  upon  the  narrative  as  a  trustworthy  statement 
of  facts.  With  this  caution  we  now  proceed  to  relate  the  cele- 
brated legends  of  the  foundation  and  early  history  of  Rome. 

JEneas,  son  of  Anchises  and  Venus,  fled  after  the  fall  of  Troy  to 
seek  a  new  home  in  a  foreign  land.  He  carried  with  him  his  son 
Ascanius,  the  Penates  or  household  gods,  and  the  Palladium  of 
Troy.*  Upon  reaching  the  coast  of  Latium  he  was  kindly  re- 
ceived by  Latinus,  the  king  of  the  country,  who  gave  him  his 
daughter  Lavinia  in  marriage.  ^Eneas  now  built  a  city,  which  he 
named  Lavinium,  in  honor  of  his  wife.  But  Lavinia  had  been 
previously  promised  to  Turnus,  the  leader  of  the  Rutulians.  This 
youthful  chief,  enraged  at  the  insult,  attacked  the  strangers.  He 
was  slain,  however,  by  the  hands  of  ^Eneas ;  but  in  a  new  war 
which  broke  out  three  years  afterward  the  Trojan  hero  disappeared 
amid  the  waters  of  the  River  Numicius,  and  was  henceforward 
worshiped  under  the  name  of  Jupiter  Indigcs,  or  "god  of  the 
country." 

Ascanius,  who  was  also  called  lulus,  removed  from  Lavinium 
thirty  years  after  its  foundation,  and  built  Alba  Longa,  or  the. 
"Long  White  City,"  on  a  ridge  of  the  Alban  Mount  about  fifteen 
miles  southeast  of  Rome.  It  became  the  most  powerful  city  in 
Latium,  and  the  head  of  a  confederacy  of  Latin  cities.  Twelve 
kings  of  the  family  of  ./Eneas  succeeded  Ascanius.  The  last  of 
these,  named  Procas,  left  two  sons,  Numitor  and  Amulius.  Amu- 
lius,  the  younger,  seized  the  kingdom  ;  and  Numitor,  who  was  of  a 
peaceful  disposition,  made  no  resistance  to  his  brother.  Amulius, 
fearing  bst  the  children  of  Numitor  might  not  submit  so  quietly 
to  his  usurpation,  caused  his  only  son  to  be  murdered,  and  made 
his  daughter,  Rhea  Silvia,  one  of  the  vestal  virgins,  who  were  com- 
pelled to  live  and  die  unmarried.  But  the  maiden  became,  by 
the  god  Mars,  the  mother  of  twins.  She  was,  in  consequence,  put 

*  The  Palladium  was  a  statue  of  Pallas,  or  Minerva,  which  was  gaij  to  liave 
fallen  from  heaven,  and  was  preserved  at  Rome  with  the  most  Facred  cu.ro. 


B.C.  753-716.          REKJN  OF  ROMULUS,  y 

to  death,  because  she  had  broken  her  vow.  and  her  babes  were 
doomed  to  be  drowned  in  the  river.  The  Tiber  had  overflowed 
its  banks  far  and  wide ;  and  the  cradle  in  which  the  babes  were 
placed  was  stranded  at  the  foot  of  the  Palatine,  and  overturned  on 
(he  root  of  a  wild  fig-tree.  A  she-wolf,  which  had  come  to  drink 
of  the  stream,  carried  them  into  her  den  hard  by,  and  suckled 
them  ;  and  when  they  wanted  other  food,  the  woodpecker,  a  bird 
sacred  to  Mars,  brought  it  to  them.  At  length,  this  marvelous 
spectacle  was  seen  by  Faustulus,  the  king's  shepherd,  who  took  the 
children  home  to  his  wife,  Acca  Larentia.  They  were  called 
Romulus  and  Remus,  and  grew  up  along  with  the  sons  of  their 
foster-parents  on  the  Palatine  Hill. 

A  quarrel  arose  between  them  and  the  herdsmen  of  Numitor, 
who  stalled  their  cattle  on  the  neighboring  hill  of  the  Aventine. 
Kern  us  was  taken  by  a  stratagem,  and  carried  off  to  Numitor.  His 
age  and  noble  bearing  made  Numitor  think  of  his  grandsons ;  and 
his  suspicions  were  confirmed  by  the  tale  of  the  marvelous  nurture 
of  the  twin  brothers.  Soon  afterward  Romulus  hastened  with  his 
foster-father  to  Numitor  ;  suspicion  was  changed  into  certainty, 
and  the  old  man  recognized  them  as  his  grandsons.  They  now 
resolved  to  avenge  the  wrongs  which  their  family  had  suffered. 
With  the  help  of  their  faithful  comrades  they  slew  Amulius,  and 
placed  Numitor  on  the  throne. 

Romulus  and  Remus  loved  their  old  abode,  and  therefore  left 
Alba  to  found  a  city  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  But  a  dispute 
arose  between  the  brothers  where  the  city  should  be  built,  and  after 
whose  name  it  should  be  called.  Romulus  wished  to  build  it  on 
the  Palatine,  Remus  on  the  Aventine.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
question  should  be  decided  by  the  gods  ;  and  each  took  his  station 
on  the  toj)  of  his  chosen  hill,  awaiting  the  pleasure  of  the  gods  by 
some  striking  sign.  The  night  passed  away,  and  as  the  day  was 
dawning  Remus  saw  six  vultures;  but  at  sunrise' when  these  tid- 
ings were  brought  to  Romulus,  twelve  vultures  flew  by  him.  Each 
claimed  the  augury  in  his  own  favor ;  but  the  shepherds  decided 
for  Romulus,  and  Remus  was  therefore  obliged  to  yield. 

1.  REIGN  OF  ROMULUS,  B.C.  753-716. — Romulus  now  proceeded 
to  mark  out  the  boundaries  of  his  city.  He  yoked  a  bullock  and 
a  heifer  to  a  plow,  and  drew  a  deep  furrow  round  the  Palatine. 
This  formed  the  sacred  limits  of  the  city,  and  was  called  the  Po- 
mccrium.  To  the  original  city  on  the  Palatine  was  given  the  name 
of  Roma  Quadrata,  or  Square  Rome,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  one 
which  subsequently  extended  over  the  seven  hills. 

Rome  is  said  to  have  been  founded  on  the  21st  of  April,  753 
rears  before  ihc  Christian  era- 


10  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  II. 

On  the  line  of  the  Pomccrium  Romulus  began  to  raise  a  wall. 
One  day  Remus  leapt  over  it  in  scorn;  whereupon  Romulus  slew 
him,  exclaiming,  "  So  die  whosoever  hereafter  shall,  leap  over  my 
walls."  Romulus  now  found  his  people  too  few  in  numbers.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  set  apart  on  the  Capitoline  Hill  an  asylum,  or  a  sanc- 
tuary, in  which  homicides  and  runaway  slaves  might  take  refuge. 
The  city  thus  became  filled  with  men,  but  they  wanted  women, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  cities  refused  to  give  their 
daughters  to  such  an  outcast  race.  Romulus  accordingly  resolved 
to  obtain  by  force  what  he  could  not  obtain  by  treaty.  He  pro- 
claimed that  games  were  to  be  celebrated  in  honor  of  the  god 
Census,  and  invited  his  neighbors,  the  Latins  and  Sabincs,  to  the 
festival.  Suspecting  no  treachery,  they  came  in  numbers  with 
their  wives  and  children,  but  the  Roman  youths  rushed  upon  their 
guests  and  carried  oft"  the  virgins.  The  parents  returned  home 
and  prepared  for  vengeance.  The  inhabitants  of  three  of  the 
Latin  towns,  CaMiina,  AntemnaB,  and  Crustumerium,  took  up  arms 
one  after  the  other,  but  were  defeated  by  the  Romans.  Romulus 
slew  with  his  own  hand  Acron,  king  of  Caenina,  and  dedicated  his 
arms  and  armor,  as  spolia  ojriwa,  to  Jupiter.  These  were  offered 
when  the  commander  of  one  army  slew  with  his  own  hand  the 
commander  of  another,  and  were  only  gained  twice  afterward  in 
Roman  history.  At  last  Titus  Tatius,  the  king  of  Cures,  the  most 
powerful  of  the  Sabinc  states,  marched  against  Rome.  His  forces 
were  so  great  that  Romulus,  unable  to  resist  him  in  the  field,  was 
obliged  to  retire  into  the  city.  Besides  the  city  on  the  Palatine, 
Romulus  had  also  fortified  the  top  of  the  Capitoline  Hill,  which 
he  intrusted  to  the  care  of  Tarpeius.  But  his  daughter  Tarpcia, 
dazzled  by  the  golden  bracelets  of  the  Sabines,  promised  to  betray 
the  hill  to  them  "if  they  would  give  her  what  they  wore  on  their 
left  arms."  Her  offer  was  accepted.  In  the  night-time  she  open- 
ed a  gate  and  let  in  the  enemy,  but  when  she  claimed  her  reward 
they  threw  upon  her  the  shields  "  which  they  wore  on  their  left 
arms,"  and  thus  crushed  her  to  death.  One  of  the  heights  of  the 
Capitoline  Hill  preserved  her  name,  and  it  was  from  the  Tarpeian 
Rock  that  traitors  were  afterward  hurled  down.  On  the  next  day 
the  Romans  endeavored  to  recover  the  hill.  A  long  and  desper- 
ate battle  was  fought  in  the  valley  between  the  Palatine  and  the 
Capitoline.  At  one  time  the  Romans  were  driven  before  the  ene- 
my, when  Romulus  vowed  a  temple  to  Jupiter  Stator,  the  Stayer 
of  Flight,  whereupon  his  men  took  courage  and  returned  again  to 
the  combat.  At  length  the  Sabine  women,  who  were  the  cause 
of  the  war,  rushed  in  between  them,  and  prayed  their  husbands 
and  fathers  to  le  reconciled.  Their  prayers  were  heard ;  the  two 


B.C.  753-716. 


REIGN  OF  ROMULUS. 


11 


people  not  only  made  peace,  but  agreed  to  form  only  cne  nation. 
The  Romans  dwelt  on  the  Palatine  under  their  king  Romulus,  the 
Sabines  on  the  Capitolinc  under  their  king  Titus  Tatius.*  The 
two  kings  and  their  senates  met  for  deliberation  in  the  valley  be- 
tween the  two  hills,  which  was  hence  called  Comitiuw,  or  the  place 
of  meeting,  and  which  afterward  became  the  Roman  Forum.  But 
this  union  did  not 
last  long.  Titus  Ta- 
t\us  was  slain  at  La- 
vinium  by  some  Lat- 
ins to  whom  he  had 
refused  satisfaction 
for  outrages  commit- 
ted by  his  kinsmen. 
Henceforward  Rom- 
ulus ruled  alone  over 
both  Romans  and  Sa- 
bines. He  reigned, 
in  all,  thirty -seven, 
years.  One  day,  as 
he  was  reviewing  his 
people  in  the  Cam- 
pus Martius,  near 
the  Goat's  Pool,  the 
sun  was  suddenly 
eclipsed,  and  a  dread- 
ful storm  dispersed 
ths  people.  When 
daylight  returned 
Romulus  had  disap- 
peared, for  his  father 
Mars  had  carried  him 
up  to  heaven  in  a 
fiery  chariot.  Short- 
ly afterward  he  ap- 
peared in  more  than 
mortal  beauty  to  the 
senator  Proculus  Sa- 
binus,  and  bade  him 
tell  the  Romans  to  worship  him  under  the  name  of  the  god  Qui- 
rinus. 

As  Romulus  was  regarded  as  the  founder  of  Rome,  its  most  an- 

*  The  Sabines  were  called  Quirites,  and  this  name  was  afterward  applied  to 
the  Roman  people  in  their  civil  capacity. 


Plan  of  the  City  of  Komulus. 


12  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  II. 

cient  political  institutions  find  the  organization  of  the  people  were 
ascribed  to  him  by  the  popular  belief. 

(i.)  The  Roman  people  consisted  only  of  Patricians  and  their 
Clients.  The  Patricians  formed  the  Populus  Romanus,  or  sover- 
eign people.  They  alone  had  political  rights ;  the  Clients  were 
entirely  dependent  upon  them.  A  Patrician  had  a  certain  number 
of  Clients  attached  to  him  personally.  To  these  he  acted  as  a 
J-'atromis  or  Patron.  He  was  bound  to  protect  the  interests  of  the 
Client  both  in  public  and  private,  while  the  Client  had  to  render 
many  services  to  his  patron. 

(ii.)  The  Patricians  were  divided  by  Romulus  into  three  Tribes; 
the  Ramnes,  or  Romans  of  Romulus ;  the  Tities,  or  Sabines  of  Ti- 
tus Tatius ;  and  the  Luceres,  or  Etruscans  of  Cables,  a  Lucumo  or 
Etruscan  noble,  who  assisted  Romulus  in  the  war  against  the  Sa- 
bines. Each  tribe  was  divided  into  10  curia;,  and  each  curiaj  into 
10  gentes.  The  30  curioc  formed  the  Comitia  Curiata,  a  sovereign 
assembly  of  the  Patricians.  This  assembly  elected  the  king,  made 
the  laws,  and  decided  in  all  cases  affecting  the  life  of  a  citizen. 

To  assist  him  in  the  government  Romulus  selected  a  number  of 
aged  men,  forming  a  Senate,  or  Council  of  Elders,  who  were  called 
Patres,  or  Senators.  It  consisted  at  first  of  100  members,  which 
number  was  increased  to  200  when  the  Sabines  were  incorporated 
in  the  state.  The  20  curia;  of  the  Ramnes  and  Tities  each  sent 
10  members  to  the  senate,  but  the  Luceres  were  not  yet  repre- 
sented. 

(ii.)  Each  of  the  three  tribes  was  bound  to  furnish  1000  men  for 
the  infantry  and  100  men  for  the  cavalry.  Tints  3000  foot-sol- 
diers and  300  horse-soldiers  formed  the  original  army  of  the  Ro- 
man state,  and  were  called  a  Leyion. 

2.  RKIGK  OF  NUMA  POMPILIDS,  B.C.  71G-G73. — On  the  death  of 
Romulus,  the  Senate,  at  first,  would  not  allow  the  election  of  a 
new  king.  The  Senators  enjoyed  the  royal  power  in  rotation  as 
Inter-rcges,  or  between-kings.  In  this  way  a  year  passed.  But 
the  people  at  length  insisted  that  a  king  should  be  chosen,  and  the 
Senate  were  obliged  to  give  way.  The  choice  fell  upon  the  wise 
and  pious  Nbma  Pompilins,  a  native  of  the  Sabine  Cures  who  had 
married  the  daughter  of  Tatius.  The  forty- three  years  of  Nunia's 
reign  glided  away  in  quiet  happiness  without  any  war  or  any  ca- 
lamity. 

As  Romulus  was  the  founder  of  the  political  institutions  of 
Rome,  so  Numa  was  the  author  of  the  religious  institutions.  In- 
structed by  the  nym;:'i  Egeria,  whom  he  met  in  the  sacred  grove 
of  Aricia,  he  instituted  the  Pontiffs,  four  in  numhor,  with  a  Ponti- 
fex  Maximus  at  their  head,  who  had  the  general  superintendence 


B.C.71G-G41.   REIGNS  OE  NUMA  AND  T.  IIOSTILIUS.   13 


Salii  carrying  the  Ancilia. 


of  religion ;  the  Augurs,  also  four  in  number,  who  consulted  tho 
will  of  the  gods  on  all  occasions,  both  private  and  public ;  three 
Flamens,  each  of  whom  attended  to  the  worship  of  separate  deities 
— Jupiter,*  Mars,  and  Qui- 

rinus ;  four  Vestal  Virgins,  -^-O^o 

who  kept  alive  the  sacred 
fire  of  Vesta  brought  from 
Alba  Longa ;  and  twelve 
Salii,  or  priests  of  Mars, 
who  had  the  care  of  the 
sacred  shields.!  Numa  re- 
formed the  calendar,  en- 
couraged agriculture,  and 
marked  out  the  bounda- 
ries of  property,  which  he 
placed  under  the  care  of 
the  god  Terminus.  He 
also  built  the  temple  of 
Janus,  a  god  represented 
with  two  heads  looking  dif- 
ferent ways.  The  gates  of  this  temple  were  to  be  open  during 
war  and  closed  in  time  of  peace. 

3.  REIGN  OF  TULLUS  HOSTILIUS,  B.C.  673-641. — Upon  the  death 
of  Numa  an  interregnum  again  followed ;  but  soon  aftenvard  Tul- 
lus  Hostilius,  a  Roman,  was  elected  king.  His  reign  was  as  war- 
like as  that  of  Numa  had  been  peaceful.  The  most  memorable 
event  in  it  is  the  destruction  of  Alba  Longa.  A  quarrel  having 
arisen  between  the  two  cities,  and  their  armies  having  been  drawn 
up  in  array  against  each  other,  the  princes  determined  to  avert  the 
battle  by  a  combat  of  champions  chosen  from  each  army.  There 
were  in  the  Roman  army  three  brothers,  born  at  the  same  birth, 
named  Horatii ;  and  in  the  Alban  army,  in  like  manner,  three 
brothers,  born  at  the  same  birth,  and  called  Curiatii.  The  two  sets 
of  brothers  were  chosen  as  champions,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the 
people  to  whom  the  conquerors  belonged  should  rule  the  other. 
Two  of  the  Horatii  were  slain,  but  the  three  Curiatii  were  wounded, 
und  the  surviving  Horatius,  who  was  unhurt,  had  recourse  to  strata- 
gem. He  was  unable  to  contend  with  the  Curiatii  united,  but  was 
more  than  a  match  for  each  of  them  separately.  Taking  to  flight, 
he  was  followed  by  his  three  opponents  at  unequal  distances.  Sud- 

*  The  Flamen  of  Jupiter  was  called  Flamen  Dial!?. 

t  These  shields  were  called  A  ncilia.  One  of  these  shields  is  said  to  have  fall- 
en from  heaven ;  and  Numa  ordered  eleven  others  to  be  made  exactly  like  it,  that 
it  might  not  be  known  and  stolen. 


14  HISTUKY  OF  ROME.  CIIAI-.  II. 

Qcnly  turning  round,  he  slew,  first  one,  then  the  second,  and  final- 
ly the  third.  The  Romans  were  declared  the  conquerors,  and  the 
Albans  their  subjects.  But  a  tragical  event  followed.  As  Hora- 
tius  was  entering  Rome,  bearing  his  threefold  spoils,  his  sister  met 
him,  and  recognized  on  his  shoulders  the  cloak  of  one  of  the  Curi- 
atii,  her  betrothed  lover.  She  burst  into  such  passionate  grief  that 
the  anger  of  her  brother  was  kindled,  and,  stabbing  her  with  his 
sword,  he  exclaimed,  "  So  perish  every  Roman  woman  who  bewails 
a  foe."  For  this  murder  he  was  condemned  by  the  two  judges  of 
blood  to  be  hanged  upon  the  fatal  tree,  but  he  appealed  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  they  gave  him  his  life. 

Shortly  afterward  Tullus  Hostilius  made  war  against  the  Etrus- 
cans of  FidcmB  and  Veii.  The  Albans,  under  their  dictator  Met- 
tius  Fnffetius,  followed  him  to  the  war  .as  the  subjects  of  Rome. 
In  the  battle  against  the  Etruscans,  the  Alban  dictator,  faithless 
and  insolent,  withdrew  to  the  hills,  but  when  the  Etruscans  were 
defeated  he  descended  to  the  plain,  and  congratulated  the  Roman 
king.  Tullus  pretended  to  bo  deceived.  On  the  following  day 
he  summoned  the  two  armies  to  receive  their  praises  and  rewards. 
The  Albans  came  without  arms,  and  were  surrounded  by  the  Ro- 
man troops.  They  then  heard  their  sentence.  Their  dictator 
was  to  be  torn  in  pieces  by  horses  driven  opposite  ways;  their 
city  was  to  be  razed  to  the  ground ;  and  they  themselves,  with 
their  wives  and  children,  transported  to  Rome.  Tullus  assigned 
to  them  the  Chilian  Hill  for  their  habitation.  Some  of  the  noble 
families  of  Alba  were  enrolled  among  the  Roman  patricians,  but 
the  great  mass  of  the  Alban  people  were  not  admitted  to  the  priv- 
ileges of  the  ruling  class.  They  were  the  origin  of  the  Roman 
J'/ebs,  who  were  thus  quite  distinct  from  the  Patricians  and  their 
Clients.  The  Patricians  still  formed  exclusively  the  Populus,  or 
Roman  people,  properly  so  called.  The  Plebs  were  a  subject- 
class  without  any  share  in  the  government. 

After  carrying  on  several  other  wars  Tullus  fell  sick,  and  sought 
to  win  the  favor  of  the  gods,  as  Numa  had  done,  by  prayers  and 
divination.  But  Jupiter  was  angry  with  him,  and  smote  him  and 
his  whole  house  with  fire  from  heaven.  Thus  perished  Tullns, 
after  a  reign  of  thirty-two  years. 

4.  REIGN  OF  ANGUS  MARCIUS,  B.C.  640-G1G. — Ancus  Marcius, 
the  successor  of  Tullus  Hostilius,  was  a  Sabine,  being  the  son  of 
Numa's  daughter.  He  sought  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
grandfather  by  reviving  the  religious  ceremonies  which  had  fallen 
into  neglect;  but  a  war  with  the  Latins  called  him  from  the  pur- 
suits of  peace.  He  conquered  several  of  the  Latin  cities,  and  re- 
moved many  of  the  inhabitants  to  Rome,  where  he  assigned  them 


B.G.  640-616.    REIGN  OF  ANGUS  MARCIUS.  15 

the  Avcntine  for  their  habitation.  Thus  the  number  of  the  Ple- 
beians was  greatly  enlarged.  Ancus  instituted  the  Fetiales,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  demand  satisfaction  from  a  foreign  state  when  any 
dispute  arose,  to  determine  the  circumstances  under  which  hostili- 
ties might  be  commenced,  and  to  perform  the  proper  religious  rites 
on  the  declaration  of  war.  He  also  founded  a  colony  at  Ostia  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  built  a  fortress  on  the  Janiculum  as  a  pro- 
tection against  the  Etruscans,  and  united  it  with  the  city  by  a  bridge 
across  the  Tiber,  called  the  Pons  Sublicius,  because  it  was  made 
of  wooden  piles,  and  erected  a  prison  to  restrain  offenders.  Ho 
died  after  a  reign  of  twenty-four  years. 


Ari'a  of  Volaterrse. 


Pens  Sublicius,  restored  by  Canina. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  LAST  THREE  KINGS  OF  ROME,  AND  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OP 
THE  REPUBLIC  DOWN  TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  LAKE  REGILLUS. 
B.C.  616-498. 

5.  REIGN  OF  Lucius  TARQUINIUS  PRISCUS,  or  the  ELDER  TAR- 
QUIN, B.C.  616-578. — The  fifth  king  of  Rome  was  an  Etruscan  by 
birth,  but  a  Greek  by  descent.  His  father  Demaratus  was  a  wealthy 
citizen  of  Corinth,  who  settled  in  the  Etruscan  city  of  Tarquinii, 
where  he  married  an  Etruscan  wife.  Their  son  married  Tanaquil, 
who  belonged  to  one  of  the  noblest  families  in  Tarquinii,  and  him- 
self became  a  Lucumo  or  a  noble  in  the  state.  But  he  aspired  to 
still  higher  honors ;  and,  urged  on  by  his  wife,  who  was  an  ambi- 
tious woman,  he  resolved  to  try  his  fortune  at  Rome.  According- 
ly, he  set  out  for  this  city,  accompanied  by  a  large  train  of  follow- 
ers. When  he  had  reached  the  Janiculum  an  eagle  seized  his  cap, 
and,  after  carrying  it  away  to  a  great  height,  placed  it  again  upon 
his  head.  Tanaquil,  who  was  skilled  in  the  Etruscan  science  of 
atigury,  bade  her  husband  hope  for  the  highest  honors.  Her  pre- 
dictions were  soon  verified.  He  took  the  name  of  Lucius  Tar- 
quinius  Priscus,  and  gained  the  favor  both  of  Ancus  Marcius  and 
the  people.  Ancus  appointed  the  stranger  guardian  of  his  chil- 
dren ;  and,  when  he  died,  the  senate  and  the  people  unanimously 
-.elected  Tarquin  to  the  vacant  throne. 

!*  The  reign  of  Tarquin  was  distinguished  by  great  exploits  in  war 
-and  by  great  works  in  peace.  He  defeated  the  Sabines,  and  took 
their  town  Collatia,  which  he  placed  under  his  nephew  Egerius, 
who  was  thence  called  Collatinus.  He  also  captured  many  of  the 
Latin  towns,  and  became  the  ruler  of  all  Latium  ;  but  the  import- 
ant works  which  he  executed  in  peace  have  rendered  his  name  still 
more  famous.  The  great  cloaca;,  or  sewers,  by  which  he  drained 


B.C.  G1G-578.     REIGN  OF  LUCIUS  T.  PRISCUS. 


17 


the  lower  parts  of  the  city,  still  remain,  after  so  many  ages,  with 
not  a  stone  displaced.  He  laid  out  the  Circus  Maximus,  and  insti- 
tuted the  great  or  Roman  games  performed  in  the  circus.  He  also 
made  some  changes  in  the  constitution  of  the  state.  He  added  to 


Cloaca  Maxima. 


the  Senate  100  new  members,  taken  from  the  Luceres,  the  third 
tribe,  and  called  patres  minorum  gentium,  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  old  Senators,  who  were  now  termed  patres  majorum  gentium. 
To  the  three  centuries  of  equites  established  by  Romulus  he  wished 
to  add  three  new  centuries,  and  to  call  them  after  himself  and  two 
of  his  friends.  But  his  plan  was  opposed  by  the  augur  Attus  Na- 
vius,  who  said  that  the  gods  forbade  it.  The  tale  runs  that  the 
king,  to  test  the  augur,  asked  him  to  divine  whether  what  he  was 
thinking  of  could  be  done.  After  consulting  the  heavens,  the  au- 
gur replied  that  it  could ;  whereupon  the  king  said,  "  I  was  think- 
ing that  thou  shouldst  cut  this  whetstone  with  a  razor."  Navius, 
without  a  moment's  hesitation,  took  a  razor  and  cut  it  in  twain. 
Jn  consequence  of  this  miracle,  Tarquin  gave  up  his  design  of  es- 
tablishing new  centuries ;  but  with  each  of  the  former  centuries  he 
associated  another  under  the  same  name,  so  that  henceforth  there 
were  the  first  and  second  Ramnes,  Tities,  and  Luceres.  The  num- 
ber of  Vestal  Virgins  was  also  increased  from  four  to  six,  the  two 
new  vestals  being  probably  taken  from  the  Luceres. 

Tarquin  had  a  favorite,  Servius  Tullius,  said  to  have  been  the 
son  of  a  female  slave  taken  at  the  capture  of  the  Latin  town  Cor- 
niculum.  His  infancy  was  marked  by  prodigies  which  foreshad- 
owed his  future  greatness.  On  one  occasion  a  flame  played  around 
his  head,  as  he  was  asleep,  without  harming  him.  Tanaquil  fore- 
saw the  greatness  of  the  boy,  and  from  this  time  he  was  brought  up 
as  the  king's  child.  Tarquin  afterward  gave  him  his  daughter  in 
marriage,  and  left  the  government  in  his  hands.  But  the  sons 
of  Ancus  Marcius,  fearing  lest  Tarquin  should  transmit  the  crown 


18  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAV.  III. 

to  his  son-in-law,  hired  two  countrymen  to  assassinate  the  king. 
These  men,  feigning  to  have  a  quarrel,  came  before  the  king  to 
have  their  dispute  decided,  and  while  he  was  listening  to  the  com- 
plaint of  one,  the  other  gave  him  a  deadly  wound  with  his  axe. 
But  the  sons  of  Ancus  did  not  reap  the  fruit  of  their  crime ;  for 
Tanaquil,  pretending  that  the  king's  wound  was  not  mortal,  told 
them  that  he  would  soon  return,  and  that  he  had,  meantime,  ap- 
pointed Servius  to  act  in  his  stead.  Servius  forthwith  proceeded 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  king,  greatly  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
people ;  and  when  the  death  of  Tarquin  could  no  longer  be  con- 
cealed, he  was  already  in  firm  possession  of  the  regal  power.  Tar- 
quin had  reigned  thirty-eight  years. 

6.  SERVIUS  TULLIUS,  B.C.  578-534. — Servius  thus  succeeded  to 
the  throne  without  being  elected  by  the  Senate  and  the  Assembly 
of  the  Curia;.  The  reign  of  this  king  is  almost  as  barren  of  mili- 
tary exploits  as  that  of  Numa.  His  great  deeds  were  those  of 
peace ;  and  he  was  regarded  by  posterity  as  the  author  of  the  later 
Roman  constitution,  just  as  Romulus  was  of  the  earlier.  Three  im- 
portant acts  are  assigned  to  Servius  by  universal  tradition.  Of 
these  the  greatest  was : 

I.  The  reform  of  the  Roman  Constitution.  In  this  reform  his 
two  main  objects  were  to  give  the  Plebeians  political  rights,  and  to 
Assign  to  property  that  influence  in  the  state  which  had  previously 
belonged  exclusively  to  birth.  To  carry  his  purpose  into  effect  he 
made  a  twofold  division  of  the  Roman  people,  one  territorial  and 
the  other  according  to  property. 

a.  It  must  be  recollected  that  the  only  existing  political  organi- 
zation was  that  of  the  Patricians  into  3  tribes,  30  curias,  and  300 
gentes ;  but  Servius  now  divided  the  whole  Roman  territory  into 
Thirty  Tribes,  and,  as  this  division  was  simply  local,  these  tribes 
contained  Plebeians  as  well  as  Patricians.     But,  though  the  insti- 
tution of  the  Thirty  Tribes  gave  the  Plebeians  a  political  organiza- 
tion, it  conferred  upon  them  no  political  power,  nor  any  right  to 
take  part  in  the  elections,  or  in  the  management  of  public  affairs. 
At  a  later  time  the  tribes  assembled  in  the  forum  for  the  transac- 
tion of  business,  and  were  hence  called  Comitia  Tribnta.    The  Pa- 
tricians were  then  excluded  from  this  assembly,  which  was  sun- 
moned  by  the  Tribunes  of  the  Plebs,  and  was  entirely  Plebeian. 

b.  The  means  by  which  Servius  gave  the  Plebeians  a  share  iu 
the  government  was  by  establishing  a  new  Popular  Assembly,  in 
which  Patricians  and  Plebeians  alike  voted.     It  was  so  arranged 
that  the  wealthiest  persons,  whether  Patricians  or  Plebeians,  pos- 
sessed the  chief  power.     In  order  to  ascertain  the  property  of  each 
citizen,  Servius  instituted  the  Census,  which  was  a  register 


B.C.  573-531.     liEJGiN  OF  SEUVIUS  TULLIUS.  19 

man  citizens  and  their  property.  All  Koman  citizens  possessing 
property  to  the  amount  of  12,500  asses  and  upward*  were  divided 
into  five  great  Classes.  The  First  Class  contained  the  richest  cit- 
izens, the  Second  Class  the  next  in  point  of  wealth,  and  so  on. 
The  whole  arrangement  was  of  a  military  character.  Each  of  the 
five  Classes  was  divided  into  a  certain  number  of  Centuries  or  Com- 
panies, half  of  which  consisted  of  Seniorcs  from  the  age  of  4G  to 
(JO,  and  half  of  Juniores  from  the  age  of  17  to  45.  All  the  Classes 
had  to  provide  their  own  arms  and  armor,  but  the  expense  of  the 
equipment  was  in  proportion  to  the  wealth  of  each  Class.  The 
Five  Classes  formed  the  infantry.  To  these  five  Classes  were  add- 
ed two  centuries  of  smiths  and  carpenters,  and  two  of  trumpeters 
and  horn-blowers.  These  four  centuries  voted  with  the  Classes. 
Those  persons  whose  property  did  not  amount  to  12,500  asses  were 
not  included  in  the  Classes,  and  formed  a  single  century. 

At  the  head  of  the  Classes  were  the  Equites  or  cavalry.  These 
consisted  of  eighteen  centuries,  six  being  the  old  patrician  Equites, 
as  founded  by  Romulus  and  augmented  by  Tarquinius  Priscus,  and 
the  other  twelve  being  chosen  from  the  chief  plebeian  families.! 
V-  The  Centuries  formed  the  new  National  Assembly.  They  mus- 
tered as  an  army  in  the  Campus  Martius,  or  the  Field  of  Mars,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  outside  the  city.  They  voted  by  Centu- 
ries, and  were  hence  called  the  Comitia  Centnriata.  Each  Century 
counted  as  one  vote,  but  did  not  consist  of  the  same  number  of 
men.  On  the  contrary,  in  order  to  give  the  preponderance  to 

*  The  A  «  was  originally  a  pound  weight  of  copper  of  12  ounces.    —   /  -' 
t  The  following  table  will  show  the  census  of  each  class,  and  the  number  of 
centuries  which  each  contained  : 

Equites. — Centuriaj 18 

First  Class.  —  Census,  100,000  asses  and  upward. 

Centurise  Seniorum 40  i 

Centuriae  Juniortim 40  >  82 

Centurise  Fabrum  (smiths  and  carpenters)  . .     2) 
Second  Class. — Census,  75,000  asses  and  upward. 

Centurise  Seniorum 10\  ™ 

Centurife  Juniorum 10) 


20 


Third  Class Census,  50,000  asses  and  upward. 

Centurise  Seniorum 10 

Centuria;  Juniorum 10 

Fourth  Class. — Census,  25,000  asses  and  upward. 

Centurise  Seniorum 10 

Centurise  Juniorum 10 

Fifth  Class.—  Census,  12,500  asses  and  upward. 

Centurise  feniorum 15) 

Centuriaj  Juniorum 15 •-  82 

Centurije  cornicinum,  tubicinum 2) 

Centuria!  capite  ccnsorum 1 

Sum  total  of  the  ccnturiae 195 


20  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CUAP.  Ill, 

wealth,  the  first  or  richest  class  contained  a  far  greater  number  of 
Centuries  than  any  of  the  other  classes  (as  will  be  seen  from  tho 
table  below),  although  they  must  at  the  same  time  have  included 
a  much  smaller  number  of  men.  The  Equites  and  First  Clnss 
alone  amounted  to  100  Centuries,  or  more  than  half  of  the  total 
number;  so  that,  if  they  agreed  to  vote  the  same  way,  they  pos- 
sessed at  once  an  absolute  majority.  An  advantage  was  also  given 
to  age ;  for  the  Seniores,  though  possessing  an  equal  number  of 
votes,  must  of  course  have  been  very  inferior  in  number  to  the  Ju- 
niores. 

Servius  made  the  Comitia  Centuriata  the  sovereign  assembly  of 
the  nation ;  and  he  accordingly  transferred  to  it  from  the  Comitia 
Curiata  the  right  of  electing  kings  and  the  higher  magistrates,  of 
enacting  and  repealing  laws,  and  of  deciding  in  cases  of  appeal 
from  the  sentence  of  a  judge.  But  lie  did  not  dare  to  abolish  tho 
old  Patrician  assembly,  and  was  even  obliged  to  enact  that  no  vote 
of  the  Comitia  Centuriata  should  be  valid  till  it  had  received  the 
sanction  of  the  Comitia  Curiata. 

Thus,  in  consequence  of  the  legislation,  we  shall  find  that  Rome 
subsequently  possessed  three  sovereign  assemblies:  1.  The  Comitia 
Centuriata,  consisting  of  both  Patricians  and  Plebeians,  and  voting 
according  to  Centuries  ;  2.  The  Comitia  Curiata,  consisting  ex- 
clusively of  Patricians,  and  voting  according  to  Curia?;  3.  The 
Comitia  Tribnta,  exclusively  of  Plebeians,  and  voting  according  to 
Tribes. 

II.  The  second  great  work  of  Servius  was  the  extension  of  the 
Pomoerium,  or  hallowed  boundary  of  the  city,  and  the  completion 
of  the  city  by  incorporating  with  it  the  Quirinal,  Viminal,  and  Es* 
quiline  Hills.*     He  surrounded  the  whole  with  a  stone  wall,  called 
after  him  the  wall  of  Servius  Tullius ;  and  from  the  Porta  Collina 
to  the  Esquiline  Gate,  where  the  hills  sloped  gently  to  the  plain, 
he  constructed  a  gigantic  mound  nearly  a  mile  in  length,  and  a 
moat  100  feet  in  breadth  and  30  in  depth,  from  which  the  earth  of 
the  mound  was  dug.     Rome  thus  acquired  a  circumference  of  five 
miles,  and  this  continued  to  be  the  legal  extent  of  the  city  till  the 
time  of  the  emperors,  although  suburbs  were  added  to  it. 

III.  An  important  alliance  with  the  Latins,  by  which  Rome  and 
the  cities  of  Latium  became  the  members  of  one  great  league,  was 
one  of  the  great  events  which  distinguished  the  reign  of  Servius. 

Servius  gave  his  two  daughters  in  marriage  to  the  two  sons  of 
Tarquinius  Priscus.  Lucius,  the  elder,  was  married  to  a  quiet  and 

*  The  celebrated  seven  Mils  upon  which  Rome  ctood  were  the  Palatine,  Aven- 
tine,  (Japitoline,  Cselian,  Quirinnl,  Viminnl,  and  Ksquilian.  The  Mona  Pincius 
was  not  included  within  the  Servian  Wall. 


B.C.  578-534.     REIGN  OF  SERVIUS  TULLIUS. 


21 


gentle  wife;  Aruns,  the  younger,  to  an  aspiring  and  ambitious 
•woman.  The  character  of  the  two  brothers  was  the  vety  opposite 
of  the  wives  who  had  fallen  to  their  lot ;  for  Lucius  was  proud  and 
haughty,  but  Aruns  unambitious  and  quiet.  The  wife  of  Aruns, 
enraged  at  the  long  life  of  her  father,  and  fearing  that  at  his  de^th 


ROMA. 


Map  of  Rome,  showing  the  Servian  Wall  and  the  Seven  llills. 

her  husband  would  tamely  resign  the  govereignty  to  his  elder 
brother,  resolved  to  murder  both  her  father  and  husband.  Her 
fiendish  spirit  put  into  the  heart  of  Lucius  thoughts  of  crime  which 
he  ha'd  never  entertained  before.  Lucius  made  way  with  his  wife, 
and  the  younger  Tullia  with  her  husband ;  and  the  survivors,  with- 


22  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CiiAr.IIL 

out  even  the  show  of  mourning,  were  straightway  joined  in  unhal. 
lowed  wedlock.  Tullia  now  incessantly  urged  her  husband  to 
murder  her  father,  and  thus  obtain  the  kingdom  which  he  so  ar- 
dently coveted.  Tarquin  formed  a  conspiracy  with  the  Patricians, 
who  were  enraged  at  the  reforms  of  Servius;  and -when  the  plot 
was  ripe  he  entered  the  forum  arrayed  in  the  kingly  robes,  seated 
himself  in  the  royal  chair,  in  the  senate-house,  and  ordered  the 
senators  to  be  summoned  to  him  as  their  king.  At  the  first  news 
of  the  commotion  Servius  hastened  to  the  senate-house,  and,  stand- 
ing at  the  doorway,  bade  Tarquin  to  come  down  from  the  throne ; 
but  Tarquin  sprang  forward,  seized  the  old  man,  and  flung  him 
down  the  stone  steps.  Covered  with  blood,  the  king  hastened 
home;  but,  before  he  reached  it,  he  was  overtaken  by  the  servants 
of  Tarquin,  and  murdered.  Tullia  drove  to  the  senate-house  and 
greeted  her  husband  as  king ;  but  her  transports  of  joy  struck 
even  him  with  horror.  He  bade  her  go  home ;  and,  as  she  was 
returning,  her  charioteer  pulled  up  and  pointed  out  the  corpse  of 
her  father  lying  in  his  blood  across  the  road.  She  commanded 
him  to  drive  on ;  the  blood  of  her  father  spirted  over  the  carriage 
and  on  her  dress ;  and  from  that  day  forward  the  place  bore  the 
name  of  the  Wicked  Street.  The  body  lay  unbnried ;  for  Tarquin 
said,  scoffingly,  "Romulus  too  went  without  burial ;"  and  this  im- 
pious mockery  is  said  to  have  given  rise  to  his  surname  of  Su- 
perbus,  or  the  Proud.  Servius  had  reigned  forty-four  years. 

7.  Reign  of  Lucius  TARQUINIUS  SCPERBUS.  or,  THE  PROUD, 
u.c.  534-510. — Tarquin  commenced  his  reign  without  any  of  tho 
forms  of  election.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  abolish  all  the  priv- 
ileges which  had  been  conferred  upon  the  Plebeians  by  Servius. 
He  also  compelled  the  poor  to  work  at  miserable  wages  upon 'his 
magnificent  buildings,  and  the  hardships  which  they  suffered  were 
so  great  that  many  put  an  end  to  their  lives.  But  he  did  not  con- 
fine his  oppressions  to  the  poor.  All  the  senators  and  patricians 
whom  he  mistrusted,  or  whose  wealth  he  coveted,  were  put  to  death 
or  driven  into  exile.  He  surrounded  himself  with  a  body-guard, 
by  whose  means  he  was  enabled  to  carry  out  his  designs.  But,  al- 
though a,  tyrant  at  homo,  he  raised  the  state  to  great  influence  and 
power  among  the  surrounding  nations,  partly  by  his  alliances  and 
partly  by  his  conquests.  He  gave  his  daughter  in  marriage  to 
Octavius  Mamilius,  of  Tuscnlum,  the  most  powerful  of  the  Latins, 
by  whose  means  he  acquired  great  influence  in  Latium.  Any  Lat- 
in chiefs  like  Turnus  Herdonius,who  attempted  to  resist  him,  were 
treated  as  traitors,  and  punished  with  death.  At  the  solemn  meet- 
ing of  the  Latins  at  the  Alban  Mount,  Tarquin  sacrificed  the  bull 
on  behalf  of  all  the  allies,  and  distributed  the  flesh  to  the  people 
of  the  league. 


B.C.5:U-f,10.   REIGN  OP  L.  TARQUINIUS  SUPERBUS.  23 

Strengthened  by  this  Latin  alliance,  Tarquin  turned  his  arms 
against  the  Volscians.  lie  took  the  wealthy  town  of  Sucssa  Po- 
metia,  with  the  spoils  of  which  he  commenced  the  erection  of  a 
magnificent  temple  on  the  Capitoline  Hill,  which  his  father  had 
vowed.  This  temple  was  dedicated  to  the  three  gods  of  the  Latin 
and  Etruscan  religions,  Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva.  A  human 
head  (caput~),  fresh  hleeding  and  undecayed,  is  said  to  have  been 
found  by  the  workmen  as  they  were  digging  the  foundations,  and 
being  accepted  as  a  sign  that  the  place  was  destined  to  become  the 
head  of  the  world,  the  name  of  CAPITOLIUM  was  given  to  the  tem- 
ple, and  thence  to  the  hill.  In  a  stone  vault  beneath  were  deposit, 
cd  the  Sibylline  books,  containing  obscure  and  prophetic  sayings. 
One  day  a  Sibyl,  a  prophetess  from  Cuma?,  appeared  before  the 
king  and  offered  to  sell  him  nine  books.  Upon  his  refusing  to  buy 
them  she  went  away  and  burned  three,  and  then  demanded  the 
same  sum  for  the  remaining  six  as  she  had  asked  for  the  nine. 
But  the  king  laughed,  whereupon  she  again  burnt  three  and  then 
demanded  the  same  sum  as  before  for  the  remaining  three. 
Wondering  at  this  strange  conduct,  the  king  purchased  the  books. 
They  were  placed  under  the  care  of  two  patricians,  and  were  con- 
sulted when  the  state  was  in  danger. 

Tarquin  next  attacked  Gabii,  one  of  the  Latin  cities,  which  re- 
fused to  enter  into  the  league.  Unable  to  take  the  city  by  force, 
he  had  recourse  to  stratagem.  His  son,  Sextus,  pretending  to  be 
ill  treated  by  his  father,  and  covered  with  the  bloody  marks  of 
stripes,  fled  to  Gabii.  The  infatuated  inhabitants  intrusted  him 
with  the  command  of  their  troops;  and  when  he  had  obtained  the 
unlimited  confidence  of  the  citizens,  he  sent  a  messenger  to  his  fa- 
ther to  inquire  how  he  should  deliver  the  city  into  his  hands.  The 
king,  who  was  walking  in  his  garden  when  the  messenger  arrived, 
made  no  reply,  but  kept  striking  off  the  heads  of  the  tallest  pop- 
pies with  his  stick.  Sextus  took  the  hint.  He  put  to  death  or 
banished,  on  false  charges,  all  the  leading  men  of  the  place,  and 
then  had  no  difficulty  in  compelling  it  to  submit  to  his  father. 

In  the  midst  of  his  prosperity  Tarquin  was  troubled  by  a  strange 
portent.  A  serpent  crawled  ont  from  the  altar  in  the  royal  pal- 
ace, and  seized  on  the  entrails  of  the  victim.  The  king,  in  fear, 
sent  his  two  sons,  Titus  and  Aruns,  to  consult  the  oracle  at  Del- 
phi. They  were  accompanied  by  their  cousin  L.  Junius  Brutus. 
One  of  the  sisters  of  Tarquin  had  been  married  to  M.  Brutus,  a 
man  of  great  wealth,  who  died,  leaving  two  sons  under  age.*  Of 
these  the  elder  was  killed  by  Tarquin,  who  coveted  their  posses- 
sions ;  the  younger  escaped  his  brother's  fate  only  by  feigning 
*  See  genealogical  table  on  the  next  p.iga. 


24  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP  III. 

idiotcy.  On  arriving  at  Delphi,  Brutus  propitiated  the  priestess 
with  the  gift  of  a  golden  stick  inclosed  in  a  hollow  staff.  After 
executing  the  king's  commission,  Titus  and  Aruns  asked  the  priest- 
ess who  was  to  reign  at  Rome  after  their  father.  The  priestess 
replied,  whichsoever  should  first  kiss  his  mother.  The  princes 
flgreed  to  keep  the  matter  secret  from  Sextus,  who  was  at  Rome, 
and  to  cast  lots  between  themselves.  Brutus,  who  better  under- 
stood the  meaning  of  the  oracle,  fell,  as  if  by  chance,  when  they 
quitted  the  temple,  and  kissed  the  earth,  the  mother  of  them  all. 

Soon  afterward  Tarquin  laid  siege  to  Ardea,  a  city  of  the  Rutu- 
lians.  The  place  could  not  be  taken  by  force,  and  the  Roman 
army  lay  encamped  beneath  the  walls.  Here,  as  the  king's  sons, 
and  their  cousin  Tarquinius  Collatinus,  were  feasting  together,  a 
dispute  arose  about  the  virtue  of  their  wives.  As  nothing  was  do- 
ing in  the  field,  they  mounted  their  horses  to  visit  their  homes  by 
surprise.  They  first  went  to  Rome,  where  they  surprised  the 
king's  daughters  at  a  splendid  banquet.  They  then  hastened  to 
Collatia,  and  there,  though  it  was  late  in  the  night,  they  found  Lu- 
cretia, the  wife  of  Collatinus,  spinning  amid  her  handmaids.  The 
beauty  and  virtue  of  Lucretia  excited  the  evil  passions  of  Sextus. 
A  few  days  after  he  returned  to  Collatia,  where  he  was  hospitably 
received  by  Lucretia  as  her  husband's  kinsman.  In  the  dead  of 
night  he  entered  her  chamber  with  a  drawn  sword,  threatening 
that,  if  she  did  not  yield  to  his  desires,  he  would  kill  her  and  lay 
by  her  side  a  slave  with  his  throat  cut,  and  would  declare  that  he 
had  killed  them  both  taken  in  adultery.  Fear  of  such  a  shame 
forced  Lucretia  to  consent ;  but,  as  soon  as  Sextus  had  departed, 
she  sent  for  her  husband  and  father.  Collatinus  came,  accom- 
panied by  L.  Brutus,  her  father,  Lucretius,  brought  with  him  P. 
Valerius.  They  found  her  in  an  agony  of  sorrow.  She  told  them 
what  had  happened,  enjoined  them  to  avenge  her  dishonor,  and 

The  following  genealogical  table  exhibits  the  relationship  of  the  family : 
Dcmaratus  of  Corinth. 


TAKQUINIUS  PRISCUS. 

Ar 

ins. 

Tarquinia,              Tarquinia, 
married                   married 
Servius  Tullius.         M.  Brutus. 

L.  TARQUINIUS        Aruns.        Egoriu.-s 
SUPKBBUS.                            commander  of 
Collatia. 

1                           1 
M.  Brutus,          L.  BBUTUS, 
put  to                   the 
death  b^              Consul. 
Tarquin  ins. 

Titus.      Sextus.     Aruns.        Tarquiniua 
Collatiim.s, 
married 
Lucretia. 

B.C.  509.  THE  REPUBLIC.  25 

then  stabbed  herself  to  the  heart.  They  all  swore  to  avenge  her. 
Brutus  threw  off  his  assumed  stupidity,  and  placed  himself  at  their 
head.  They  carried  the  corpse  into  the  market-place  of  Collatia. 
There  the  people  took  up  arms,  and  renounced  the  Tarquins.  A 
number  of  young  men  attended  the  funeral  procession  to  Home. 
Brutus  summoned  the  people,  and  related  the  deed  of  shame.  All 
classes  were  inflamed  with  the  same  indignation.  A  decree  was 
passed  deposing  the  king,  and  banishing  him  and  his  family  from 
the  city.  Brutus  now  set  out  for  the  army  at  Ardea.  Tarquinius 
meantime  had  hastened  to  Rome,  but  found  the  gates  closed  against 
him.  Brutus  was  received  with  joy  at  Ardea;  and  the  army  re- 
nounced their  allegiance  to  the  tyrant.  Tarquin,  with  his  two 
sons,  Titus  and  Aruns,  took  refuge  at  Caere,  in  Etruria.  Sextus 
(led  to  Gabii,  where  he  was  shortly  after  murdered  by  the  friends 
of  those  whom  he  had  put  to  death. 

Tarquin  had  reigned  22  years  when  he  was  driven  out  of  Rome. 
In  memory  of  this  event  an  annual  festival  was  celebrated  on  the 
24th  of  February,  called  the  Regifvgium  or  Fii<;alia. 
,  -  THE  REPUBLIC. — Thus  ended  monarchy  at  Rome.  Tarquin  the 
Proud  had  made  the  name  of  king  so  hateful  that  the  people  re- 
solved to  intrust  the  kingly  power  to  two  men,  who  were  only  to 
hold  office  for  a  year.  In  later  times  they  were  called  Consuls,  but 
at  their  first  institution  they  were  named  Praetors.  They  were 
elected  by  the  Comitia  Curiata,  and  possessed  the  same  honors  as 
the  king  had  had.  The  first  consuls  were  L.  Brutus  and  Tarquin- 
ius Collatinus  (B.C.  509).  But  the  people  so  hated  the  very  name 
and  race  of  Tarquin,  that  Collatinus  was  obliged  to  resign  his  of- 
fice and  retire  from  Rome.  P.  Valerius  was  elected  consul  in  his 
place. 

Meantime  embassadors  came  to  Rome  from  Tarquin,  asking 
that  his  private  property  should  be  given  up  to  him.  The  demand 
seemed  just  to  the  Senate  and  the  People  ;  but,  while  the  embnssa- 
dors  were  making  preparation  for  carrying  away  the  property,  they 
formed  a  conspiracy  among  the  young  Roman  nobles  for  the  resto- 
ration of  the  royal  family.  The  plot  was  discovered  by  means  of 
a.  slave,  and  among  the  conspirators  were  found  the  two  sons  of 
Brutus  himself.  But  the  consul  would  not  pardon  his  guilty  chil- 
dren, and  ordered  the  lictors*  to  put  them  to  death  with  the  other 
traitors.  The  agreement  to  surrender  the  property  was  made  void 
by  this  attempt  at  treason.  The  royal  goods  were  given  up  to  the 
people  to  plunder. 

*  The  Lictor.i  were  public  officers  who  attended  upon  the  Roman  magistrate, 
f^ich  consul  had  twelve  lictors.  Tliey  curried  upon  their  shoulders /rtsces,  which 
were  rods  bound  i»  the  form  of  a  bundle,  and  containing  an  axe  in  the  middle. 


26  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  IIL 

As  the  plot  had  failed,  Tarquin  now  endeavored  to  recover  the 
throne  by  arms.  The  people  of  Tarquinii  and  Veil  espoused  the 
cause  of  their  Etruscan  kinsmen,  and  inarched  against  Rome. 
The  two  Consuls  advanced  to  meet  them.  When  Aruns,  the 
king's  son,  saw  Brutus  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  cavalry,  he  spur- 
red his  horse  to  the  charge.  Brutus  did  not  shrink  from  the  com. 
bat ;  and  both  fell  from  their  horses  mortally  wounded  by  each 
others  spears.  A  desperate  battle  between  the  two  armies  now 
'followed.  Both  parties  claimed  the  victory,  till  a  voice  was  heard 
ia  the  dead  of  night,  proclaiming  that  the  Romans  had  conquered, 
as  the  Etruscans  had  lost  one  man  more.  Alarmed  at  this,  the 
Etruscans  fled ;  and  Valerius,  the  surviving  Consul,  returned  to 
Rome,  carrying  with  him  the  dead  body  of  Brutus.  The  matrons 
mourned  for  Brutus  a  whole  year,  because  he  had  revenged  the 
death  of  Lucretia. 

This  was  the  first  war  for  the  restoration  of  Tarquin. 

Valerius  was  now  left  without  a  colleague ;  and  as  he  began  to 
build  a  house  on  the  top  of  the  hill  Velia,  which  looked  down  upon 
the  forum,  the  people  feared  that  he  was  aiming  at  kingly  power. 
Thereupon  Valerius  not  only  pulled  down  the  house,  but,  calling 
an  assembly  of  the  people,  he  ordered  the  lictors  to  lower  the  fas- 
ces before  them,  as  an  acknowledgment  that  their  power  was  su- 
perior to  his.  He  likewise  brought  forward  a  law  enacting  that 
every  citizen  who  was  condemned  by  a  magistrate  should  have  a 
right  of  appeal  to  the  people.  Valerius  became,  in  consequence, 
so  popular  that  he  received  the  surname  of  Pullicola,  or  "The 
People's  Friend." 

Valerius  then  summoned  an  assembly  for  the  election  of  a  suc- 
cessor to  Brutus,  and  Sp.  Lucretius  was  chosen.  Lucretius,  how- 
ever, lived  only  a  few  days,  and  M.  Horatius  was  elected  consul  in 
his  place.  It  was  Horatius  who  had  the  honor  of  consecrating 
the  temple  on  the  Capitol,  which  Tarquin  had  left  unfinished  when 
he  was  driven  from  the  throne. 

The  second  year  of  the  republic  (B.C.  508)  witnessed  the  second 
attempt  of  Tarquin  to  recover  the  crown.  He  now  applied  for 
help  to  Lars  Porsena,  the  powerful  ruler  of  the  Etruscan  town  of 
Cltisium,  who  marched  against  Rome  at  the  head  of  a  vast  army. 
The  Romans  could  not  meet  him  in  the  field  ;  and  Porsena  seized 
without  opposition  the  Janiculum,  a  hill  immediately  opposite  the 
city,  and  separated  from  it  only  by  the  Tiber.  Rome  was  now  in 
the  greatest  danger,  and  the  Etruscans  would  have  entered  the 
city  by  the  Sublician  bridge  had  not  Horatius  Codes,  with  two 
comrades,  kept  the  whole  Etruscan  army  at  bay  while  the  Romans 
broke  down  the  bridge  behind  him.  When  it  was  giving  way  he 


B.C.  508.  THE  REPUBLIC.  27 

sent  back  his  two  companions,  and  withstood  alone  the  attacks  of 
the  foe  till  the  cracks  of  the  falling  timbers  and  the  shouts  of  his 
countrymen  told  him  that  the  bridge  had  fallen.  Then  ]  raying, 
"O  Father  Tiber,  take  me  into  thy  charge  and  bear  me  up !"  he 
plunged  into  the  stream  and  swam  across  in  safety,  amid  the  ar- 
rows of  the  enemy.  The  state  raised  a  statue  in  his  honor,  and 
allowed  him  as  much  land  as  he  could  plow  round  in  one  day. 
Few  legends  are  more  celebrated  in  Roman  history  than  this  gal- 
lant deed  of  Horatius,  and  Roman  writers  loved  to  tell 

"How  well  Horatius  kept  the  bridge 
In  the  brave  days  of  old." 

The  Etruscans  now  proceeded  to  lay  siege  to  the  city,  which 
soon  began  to  suffer  from  famine.  Thereupon  a  young  Roman, 
named  C.  Mucius,  resolved  to  deliver  his  country  by  murdering  the 
invading  king.  He  accordingly  went  over  to  the  Etruscan  camp ; 
but,  ignorant  of  the  person  of  Porsena,  killed  the  royal  secretary 
instead.  Seized  and  threatened  with  torture,  he  thrust  his  right 
hand  into  the  fire  on  the  altar,  and  there  let  it  burn,  to  show  how 
little  he  heeded  pain.  Astonished  at  his  courage,  the  king  bade 
him  depart  in  peace ;  and  Mucius,  out  of  gratitude,  advised  him 
to  make  peace  with  Rome,  since  three  hundred  noble  youths,  he 
said,  had  sworn  to  take  the  life  of  the  king,  and  he  was  the  first 
upon  whom  the  lot  had  fallen.  Mucius  was  henceforward  called 
Scoevola,  or  the  Left-handed,  because  his  right  hand  had  been  burnt 
off.  Porsena,  alarmed  for  his  life,  which  he  could  not  secure 
against  so  many  desperate  men,  forthwith  offered  peace  to  the  Ro- 
mans on  condition  of  their  restoring  to  the  Veien tines  the  land 
which  they  had  taken  from  them.  These  terms  were  accepted, 
and  Porsena  withdrew  his  troops  from  the  Janiculum  after  receiv- 
ing ten  youths  and  ten  maidens  as  hostages  from  the  Romans. 
Cloclia,  one  of  the  maidens,  escaped  from  the  Etruscan  camp,  and 
swam  across  the  Tiber  to  Rome.  She  was  sent  back  by  the  Ro- 
mans to  Porsena,  who  was  so  amazed  at  her  courage  that  he  not 
only  set  her  at  liberty,  but  allowed  her  to  take  with  her  those  of 
the  hostages  whom  she  pleased. 

Thus  ended  the  second  attempt  to  restore  the  Tarquins  by  force.* 
After  Porsena  quitted  Rome,  Tarquin  took  refuge  with  his  son- 
in-law,  Octavius  Mamilius,  of  Tusculum.     The  thirty  Latin  cities 
now   espoused  the  cause    of  the   exiled  king,  and  declared  war 
against  Rome.     The  contest  was  decided  by  the  battle  of  the  Lake 

•  There  i?,  however,  reason  to  believe  th.it  these  brilliant  stories  conceal  one  of 
the  earliest  and  greatest  disasters  of  the  city.  It  appears  that  Kome  was  really 
conquered  by  Porsena,  and  lost  all  the  territory  which  the  kings  had  gained  on 
the  right  side  of  the  Tiber.  Henro  we  find  the  thirty  tribes,  established  by  Ser- 
vina  Tullius,  reduced  to  twenty  after  the  war  with  Porsena. 


28  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  III. 

Regillus,  which  was  long  celebrated  in  Roman  story,  and  the  ac- 
count of  which  resembles  one  of  the  battles  in  the  Iliad.  The  Ro- 
mans were  commanded  by  the  Dictator,*  A.  Postumius,  and  bv  T. 
^Ebutius,  the  Master  of  the  Horse  ;  at  the  head  of  the  Latins  were 
Tarquin  and  Octavius  Mamilius.  The  struggle  was  fierce  and 
bloody,  but  the  Latins  at  length  fled.  Almost  all  the  chiefs  on 
cither  side  fell  in  the  conflict,  or  were  grievously  wounded.  Titus, 
the  son  of  Tarquin,  was  killed ;  and  the  aged  king  was  wounded, 
out  escaped  with  his  life.  It  was  related  in  the  old  tradition  that 
the  Romans  gained  this  battle  by  the  assistance  of  the  gods  Castor 
nnd  Pollux,  who  were  seen  charging  the  Latins  at  the  head  of  the 
Roman  cavalry,  and  who  afterward  carried  to  Rome  the  tidings  of 
(he  victory.  A  temple  was  built  in  the  forum  on  the  spot  where 
they  appeared,  and  their  festival  was  celebrated  yearly. 

This  was  the  third  and  last  attempt  to  restore  the  Tavquins. 
The  Latins  were  completely  humbled  by  this  victory.  Tarquinius 
Superbus  had  no  other  state  to  which  he  could  apply  for  assistance. 
He  had  already  survived  all  his  family  ;  and  he  now  fled  to  Cumae, 
where  he  died  a  wretched  and  childless  old  man  (B.C.  49G). 

*  The  Dictator  was  an  extraordinary  magistrate  appointed  by  one  of  the  Con- 
mis  in  seasons  of  great  peril.  He  possessed  absolute  power.  Twenty-four  lie. 
tors  attended  him,  bearing  the  axes  in  the  fasces,  even  in  the  city;  and  from  his 
decision  there  was  no  appeal.  He  could  not  hold  the  office  longer  than  six  months 
nnd  he  usually  laid  it  down  much  sooner.  He  appointed  a  Magixter  Equitum, 
or  Master  of  the  Horse,  who.  acted  as  his  lieutenant.  From  the  time  of  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  Dictator,  all  the  other  magistrates,  even  the  Consuls,  ceased  to 
exercise  any  power. 


Coin  representing  the  children  of  Brutus  led  to  death  by  Lictora. 


The  Caropagna  of  Rome. 


CHAPTER   IV, 

FROM   THE   BATTLE    OF   THE   LAKE   REGILLTJS   TO   THE    DECEMVI- 
RATE.       B.C.  498-451. 

THE  history  of  Rome  for  the  next  150  years  consists  internally 
of  the  struggles  between  the  Patricians  and  Plebeians,  and  exter- 
nally of  the  wars  with  the  Etruscans,  Volscians.  .ZEquians,  and  oth- 
er tribes  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Rome. 

The  internal  history  of  Rome  during  this  period  is  one  of  great 
interest.  The  Patricians  and  Plebeians  formed  two  distinct  or- 
ders in  the  state.  After  the  banishment  of  the  kings  the  Patri- 
cians retained  exclusive  possession  of  political  power.  The  Ple- 
beians, it  is  true,  could  vote  in  the  Comitia  Centuriata,  but,  as  they 
were  mostly  poor,  they  were  outvoted  by  the  Patricians  and  their 
clients.  The  Consuls  and  other  magistrates  were  taken  entirely 
from  the  Patricians,  who  also  possessed  the  exclusive  knowledge 
and  administration  of  the  law.  In  one  word,  the  Patricians  were  >  - 
a  ruling  and  the  Plebeians  a  subject  class.  But  this  was  not  all. 


30  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  IV. 

The  Patricians  formed  not  only  a  separate  class,  but  a  separate 
caste,  not  marrying  with  the  Plebeians,  and  worshiping  the  gods 
with  different  religious  rites.  If  a  Patrician  man  married  a  Ple- 
beian wife,  or  a  Patrician  woman  a  Plebeian  husband,  the  state  re- 
fused to  recognize  the  marringc,  and  the  offspring  was  treated  as 
illegitimate. 

The  Plebeians  had  to  complain  not  only  of  political,  but  also  of 
private  wrongs.  The  law  of  debtor  and  creditor  was  very  severe 
at  -Home.  If  the  borrower  did  not.  pay  the  money  by  the  time 
agreed  upon,  his  person  was  seized  by  the  creditor,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  work  as  a  slave.*  Nay,  in  certain  cases  he  might  even 
be  put  to  death  by  the  creditor ;  and  if  there  were  more  than  one, 
his  body  might  be  cut  in  pieces  and  divided  among  them.  The 
whole  weight  of  this  oppressive  law  fell  upon  the  Plebeians;  and 
what  rendered  the  case  still  harder  was,  that  they  were  frequently 
compelled,  through  no  fault  of  their  own,  to  become  borrowers. 
They  were  small  landholders,  living  by  cultivating  the  soil  with 
their  own  hands ;  but  as  they  had  to  serve  in  the  army  without 
pay,  they  had  no  means  of  engaging  laborers  in  their  absence. 
Hence,  on  their  return  home,  they  were  left  without  the  means  of 
subsistence  or  of  purchasing  seed  for  the  next  crop,  and  borrowing 
was  their  only  resource. 

Another  circumstance  still  farther  aggravated  the  hardships  of 
the  Plebeians.  The  state  possessed  a  large  quantity  of  land  called 
Ager  Publicus,  or  the  "Public  Land."  This  land  originally  be- 
longed  to  the  kings,  being  set  apart  for  their  support;  and  it  was 
constantly  increased  by  conquest,  as  it  was  the  practice  on  the  sub- 
jugation of  a  people  to  deprive  them  of  a  certain  portion  of  their 
land.  This  public  land  was  let  by  the  state  subject  to  a  rent ; 
but  as  the  Patricians  possessed  the  political  power,  they  divided 
the  public  land  among  themselves,  and  paid  for  it  only  a  nominal 
rent.  Thus  the  Plebeians,  by  whose  blood  and  unpaid  toil  much 
of  this  land  had  been  won,  were  excluded  from  all  participation 
in  it. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Plebeians  would  submit  t» 
such  grievous  injustice.  The  contest  was  twofold.  It  was  a 
struggle  of  a  subject  against  a  ruling  class,  and  of  rich  against 
poor.  The  Plebeians  strove  to  obtain  an  equal  share  not  only  in 
the  political  power,  but  also  in  the  public  land. 

The  cruelty  of  the  Patrician  creditors  was  the  most  pressing 

evil,  and  led  to  the  first  reform.     In  B.C.  4'J-t  the  Plebeians,  after 

a  campaign  against  the  Volscians,  instead  of  returning  to  Rome, 

retired  to  the  Sacred  Mount,  a  hill  about  two  miles  from  the  city, 

*  Debtors  thus  "iven  over  to  their  creditors  were  called  Addicti. 


B.C.  41)4.    THE  PATRICIANS  AND  PLEBEIANS.  31 

near  the  junction  of  the  Arno  and  the  Tiber.  Here  they  determ- 
ined to  settle  and  found  a  new  town,  leaving  Rome  to  the  Patri- 
cians and  their  clients.  This  event  is  known  as  the  Secession  to 
the  Sacred  Mount.  The  Patricians,  alarmed,  sent  several  of  their 
number  to  persuade  the  Plebeians  to  return.  Among  the  deputies 
was  the  aged  Menenius  Agrippa,  who  had  great  influence  with  the 
Plebeians.  He  related  to  them  the  celebrated  fable  of  the  Belly 
and  the  Members. 

"Once  upon  a  time,"  he  said,  "the  Members  refused  to  work 
any  longer  for  the  Belly,  which  led  a  laxy  life,  and  grew  fat  upon 
their  toils.  But  receiving  no  longer  any  nourishment  from  the 
Belly,  they  soon  began  to  pine  away,  and  found  that  it  was  to  the 
Belly  they  owed  their  life  and  strength." 

The  fable  was  understood,  and  the  Plebeians  agreed  to  treat 
with  the  Patricians.  It  was  decided  that  existing  debts  should  be 
canceled,  and  that  all  debtors  in  bondage  should  be  restored  to 
freedom.  It  was  necessary,  however,  to  provide  security  for  the 
future,  and  the  Plebeians  therefore  insisted  that  two  of  their  own 
number  should  be  elected  annually,  to  whom  the  Plebeians  might 
appeal  for  assistance  against  the  decisions  of  the  Patrician  magis- 
trates. These  officers  were  called  Tribunes  of  the  Pltbs.  Their 
persons  were  declared  sacred  and  inviolate ;  they  were  never  to 
quit  the  city  during  their  year  of  office ;  and  their  houses  were  to 
remain  open  day  and  night,  that  all  who  were  in  need  of  help 
might  apply  to  them.  Their  number  was  soon  afterward  increased 
to  five,  and  at  a  later  time  to  ten.  They  gradually  gained  more 
and  more  power,  and  obtained  the  right  of  putting  a  veto*  upon 
any  public  business.!  At  the  Sacred  Mount  the  Plebeians  also 
obtained  the  privilege  of  having  two  ./Ediles  of  their  order  appoint- 
ed. These  officers  had  at  a  later  time  the  care  of  the  public  build- 
ings and  roads,  and  the  superintendence  of  the  police  of  the  city. 

Emboldened  by  this  success,  the  Plebeians  now  demanded  a 
share  in  the  public  land.  And  in  this  they  found  an  unexpected 
supporter  among  the  Patricians  themselves.  Sp.  Cassius,  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  state,  who  had  formed  the  league 
between  the  Romans,  Latins,  and  Hcrnicans,  brought  forward  in 
his  third  consulship  a  law,  by  which  a  portion  of  the  public  land 
was  to  be  divided  among  the  Plebeians  (n.c.  48G).  This  was  the 
first  Af/rarian  Law  mentioned  in  Roman  history.  It  must  be  rec- 

*  This  was  called  the  right  ofintercexxion,  from  intercede,  "  to  come  between." 
t  The  Tribunes  were  originally  elected  at  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries,  where 
the  influence  of  the  1'atricians  was  predominant ;  but  by  the  Publilian  Law, 
proposed  by  the  tribune  Publilius<  Volero,  and  passed  B.C.  4T1,  the  election  was 
transferred  to  the  Comitia  of  the  Tribes,  by  which  means  the  Plebeians  obtained 
the  uncontrolled  election  of  their  own  officers. 


32  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAI-.  IV. 

ollected  that  all  the  Agrarian  laws  dealt  only  with  the  public  land, 
and  never  touched  the  property  of  private  persons.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  violent  opposition  of  the  Patricians,  the  law  was  passed ; 
but  it  was  never  carried  into  execution,  and  the  Patricians  soon 
revenged  themselves  upon  its  author.  In  the  following  year  he 
was  accused  of  aiming  at  the  kingly  power,  and  condemned  to 
death.  He  was  scourged  and  beheaded,  and  his  house  razed  to 
the  ground. 

We  now  turn  to  the  external  history  of  Home.  Under  the 
kings  Rome  had  risen  to  a  superiority  over  her  neighbors,  and  had 
extended  her  dominion  over  the  southern  part  of  Etruria  and  the 
greater  part  of  Latium.  The  early  history  of  the  republic  presents 
a  very  different  spectacle.  For  the  next  100  years  she  is  engaged 
in  a  difficult  and  often  dubious  struggle  with  the  Etruscans  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  Volscians  and  JEquians  on  the  other.  Jt  would 
be  unprofitable  to  relate  the  details  of  these  petty  campaigns;  but 
there  are  three  celebrated  legends  connected  with  them  which 
must  not  be  passed  over. 

1.  CORIOLANUS  AND  THE  VOLSCIANS,  B.C.  488. — C.  Marcius,  sur- 
named  Coriolanus,  from  his  valor  at  the  capture  of  the  Latin  town 
of  Corioli,  was  a  brave  but  haughty  Patrician  youth.  He  was 
hated  by  the  Plebeians,  who  refused  him  the  consulship.  This 
inflamed  him  with  anger ;  and  accordingly,  when  the  city  was  suf- 
fering from  famine,  and  a  present  of  corn  came  from  Sicily,  Corio 
lanus  advised  the  Senate  not  to  distribute  it  among  the  Plebeians 
unless  they  gave  up  their  Tribunes.  Such  insolence  enraged  the 
Plebeians,  who  would  have  torn  him  to  pieces  on  the  spot  had  not 
the  tribunes  summoned  him  before  the  Comitia  of  the  Tribes. 
Coriolanus  himself  breathed  nothing  but  defiance  ;  and  his  kins- 
men and  friends  interceded  for  him  in  vain.  He  was  condemned 
to  exile.  He  now  turned  his  steps  to  Antium,  the  capital  of  the 
Volscians,  and  offered  to  lead  them  against  Rome.  Attius  Tul- 
lius,  king  of  the  Volscians,  persuaded  his  countrymen  to  appoint 
Coriolanus  their  general.  Nothing  could  check  his  victorious 
progress ;  town  after  town  fell  before  him ;  and  he  advanced  with- 
in five  miles  of  the  city,  ravaging  the  lands  of  the  Plebeians,  but 
sparing  those  of  the  Patricians.  The  city  was  filled  with  despair. 
The  ten  first  men  in  the  Senate  were  sent  in  hopes  of  moving  his 
compassion.  But  they  were  received  with  the  utmost  sternness, 
and  told  that  the  city  must  submit  to  his  absolute  will.  Next  day 
the  pontiffs,  augurs,  flamens,  and  all  the  priests,  came  in  their 
robes  of  office,  and  in  vain  prayed  him  to  spare  the  city.  All 
seemed  lost;  but  Rome  was  saved  by  her  women.  Next  morning 
the  noblest  matrons,  headed  by  Yeturia,  the  aged  mother  of  Cor 


B.C.  488.     CQRIOLANUS  AND  THE  VOLSCIANS. 


33 


claims,  end  by  his  wife  Volumnia,  holding  her  little  children  by 
the  hand,  came  to  his  tent.  Their  lamentations  turned  him  from 
liis  purpose.  "Mother,"  he  said,  bursting  into  tears,  "thou  hast 
saved  Rome,  but  lost  thy  son !"  He  then  led  the  Volscians  home, 
but  they  put  him  to  death  because  he  had  spared  Rome.  Others 


The  Environs  of  Rome. 

relate  that  he  lived  among  the  Volscians  to  a  great  age,  and  was 
often  heard  to  say  that  "none  but  an  old  man  can  feel  how 
wretched  it  is  to  live  in  a  foreign  land." 

2.  THE  FABIA  GENS  AND  THE  VEIENTINES,  B.C.  477. — The  Fabii 
were  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Patrician  houses.  For  seven 
successive  years  one  of  the  Consuls  was  always  a  Fabius.  T'-o 

C 


34  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CIIAP.  IV. 

Fabii  had  been  among  the  leading  opponents  of  the  Agrarian  Law  ; 
and  Kttso  Fabius  had  taken  an  active  part  in  obtaining  the  con- 
demnation of  Sp.  Cassius.  But  shortly  afterward  we  find  this 
same  Kaeso  the  advocate  of  the  popular  rights,  and  proposing  that 
the  Agrarian  Law  of  Oassius  should  be  carried  into  effect.  He 
was  supported  in  his  new  views  by  his  powerful  house,  though  the 
reasons  for  their  change  of  opinion  we  do  not  know.  But  the  Fa- 
bii made  no  impression  upon  the  great  body  of  the  Patricians,  and 
only  earned  for  themselves  the  hearty  hatred  of  their  order.  Find- 
ing that  they  could  no  longer  live  in  peace  at  Rome,  they  determ- 
ined to  leave  the  city,  and  found  a  separate  settlement,  where  they 
might  still  be  useful  to  their  native  land.  One  of  the  most  formi- 
dable enemies  of  the  republic  was  the  Etruscan  city  of  Veii,  situate 
about  twelve  miles  from  Rome.  Accordingly,  the  Ejibian  house, 
consisting  of  306  males  of  full  age,  accompanied  by  their  wives  and 
children,  clients  and  dependents,  marched  out  of  Rome  by  the  right- 
hand  arch  of  the  Carmental  Gate,  and  proceeded  straight  to  the 
Cremera,  a  river  which  flows  into  the  Tiber  below  Veii.  On  the 
Cremera  they  established  a  fortified  camp,  and,  sallying  thence,  they 
laid  waste  the  Veientine  territory.  For  two  years  they  sustained 
the  whole  weight  of  the  Veientine  war ;  and  all  the  attempts  of 
the  Veientines  to  dislodge  them  proved  in  vain.  But  at  length 
they  were  enticed  into  an  ambuscade,  and  were  all  slain.  The 
settlement  was  destroyed,  and  no  one  of  the  house  survived  except 
a  boy  who  had  been  left  behind  at  Rome,  and  who  became  the  an- 
cestor of  the  Fabii,  afterward  so  celebrated  in  Roman  history. 
The  Fabii  were  sacrificed  to  the  hatred  of  the  Patricians ;  for  the 
consul  T.  Menenius  was  encamped  a  short  way  off  at  the  time, 
and  he  did  nothing  to  save  them. 

3.  CIXCIN>TATCS  AND  THE  JEQUiANS,  B.C.  458. — The  -3£quians  in 
their  numerous  attacks  upon  the  Roman  territory  generally  occu- 
pied Mount  Algidus,  which  formed  a  part  of  the  group  of  the  Al- 
ban  Hills  in  Latium.  It  was  accordingly  upon  this  mount  that 
the  battles  between  the  Romans  and^Equians  most  frequently  took 
place.  In  the  year  458  B.C.  the  Roman  consul  L.  Minucius  was 
defeated  on  the  Algidus,  and  surrounded  in  his  camp.  Five  horse- 
men, who  made  their  escape  before  the  Romans  were  completely 
encompassed,  brought  the  tidings  to  Rome.  The  Senate  forth- 
•with  appointed  L.  Cincinnatus  dictator. 

L.  Cincinnatus  was  one  of  the  heroes  of  old  Roman  story. 
When  the  deputies  of  the  Senate  came  to  him  to  announce  his 
elevation  to  the  dictatorship  they  found  him  driving  a  plow,  and 
clad  only  in  his  tunic  or  shirt.  They  bade  him  clothe  himself, 
that  ho  might  hear  the  commands  of  the  Senate.  He  put  on  his 


B.C.  458.     CINCINNATUS  AND  THE  vEQUIANS.  35 

toga,  which  his  wife  Racilia  brought  him.  The  deputies  then  told 
him  of  the  peril  of  the  Roman  army,  and  that  he  had  been  made 
Dictator.  The  next  morning,  before  daybreak,  he  appeared  in 
the  forum,  and  ordered  all  the  men  of  military  age  to  meet  him  in 
.  he  evening  in  the  Field  of  Mars,  with  food  for  five  days,  and  each 
jvith  twelve  stakes.  His  orders  were  obeyed  ;  and  with  such  speed 
did  he  march,  that  by  midnight  he  reached  Mount  Algidus.  Plac- 
ing his  men  around  the  JKquian  camp,  he  told  them  to  raise  the 
•wai-cry,  and  at  the  same  time  to  begin  digging  a  trench  and  rais- 
ing a  mound,  on  the  top  of  which  the  stakes  were  to  be  driven  in. 
The  other  Roman  army,  which  was  shut  in,  hearing  the  war-cry, 
burst  forth  from  their  camp,  and  fought  with  the  ^quians  all  night. 
The  Dictator's  troops  thus  worked  without  interruption,  and  com- 
pleted the  intrenchment  by  the  morning.  The  ^Equians  found 
themselves  hemmed  in  between  the  two  armies,  and  were  forced 
to  surrender.  The  Dictator  made  them  pass  under  the  yoke,  which 
was  formed  by  two  spears  fixed  upright  in  the  ground,  while  a  third 
'.vas  fastened  across  them.  Cincinnatus  entered  Rome  in  triumph 
only  twenty-four  hours  after  he  had  quitted  it,  having  thus  saved  a 
whole  Roman  army  from  destruction. 

In  reading  the  wars  of  the  early  Republic,  it  is  important  to  rec- 
ollect the  League  formed  by  Spurius  Cassius,  the  author  of  the 
Agrarian  Law.  between  the  Romans,  Latins,  and  Hernicans.  This 
League,  to  which  allusion  has  been  already  made,  was  of  the  most 
intimate  kind,  and  the  armies  of  the  three  states  fought  by  each 
other's  sides.  It  was  by  means  of  this  League  that  the  ^Equians 
and  Volscians  were  kept  in  check,  for  they  were  two  of  the  most 
warlike  nations  in  Italy,  and  would  have  been  more  than  a  match 
for  the.  unsunported  arms  of  Rome. 


Tarpeian  Hock. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   DECEMVIRATE.       B.C.  451-449. 

FROM  the  Agrarian  Law  of  Sp.  Cassius  to  the  appointment  of  the 
Decemvirs  was  a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years.  During  the 
whole  of  this  time  the  struggle  between  the  Patricians  and  tho 
Plebeians  was  increasing.  The  latter  constantly  demanded,  and 
the  former  as  firmly  refused,  the  execution  of  the  Agrarian  Law 
of  Cassius.  But,  though  the  Plebeians  failed  in  obtaining  this  ob- 
ject, they  nevertheless  made  steady  progress  in  gaining  for  them- 
selves a  more  important  position  in  the  city.  In  B.C.  471  the  Pub- 
lilian  Law  was  carried,  by  which  the  election  of  the  Tribunes  and 
Plebeian  ^Ediles  was  transferred  from  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries 
to  those  of  the  Tribes.*  From  this  time  the  Comitia  of  the  Tribes 
may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  political  assemblies  of  the  state, 
ranking  with  those  of  the  Centuries  and  the  Curies.  But  the  Pa- 
tricians still  retained  exclusive  possession  of  the  administrative  and 
judicial  powers,  and  there  were  no  written  laws  to  limit  their  au- 
thority and  to  regulate  their  decisions.  Under  these  circum- 
*  See  note  on  p.  31. 


B.C.  451-449.  THE  DECEMVIRATE.  37 

stances,  the  Tribune  C.  Terentilius  Arsa  proposed,  in  B.C.  4G2,  that 
a  commission  of  Ten  Men  (Decemviri)  should  be  appointed  to  draw 
up  a  code  of  laws,  by  which  a  check  might  be  put  to  the  arbitrary- 
power  of  the  Patrician  magistrates.  This  proposition,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  met  with  the  most  vehement  opposition  from 
the  Patricians.  But  the  Plebeians  were  firm,  and  for  five  success- 
ive years  the  same  Tribunes  were  re-elected.  It  was  during  this 
struggle  that  an  attempt  was  made  upon  the  Capitol  by  Herdonius, 
a  Sabine  chief,  with  a  band  of  outlaws  and  slaves.  It  was  a  tur- 
bulent period,  and  the  Patricians  had  recourse  even  to  assassina- 
tion. At  length,  after  a  struggle  of  eight  years,  a  compromise  was 
effected,  and  it  was  arranged  that  Three  Commissioners  (Trium- 
viri) were  to  be  sent  into  Greece  to  collect  information  respecting 
the  laws  of  Solon  at  Athens,  as  well  as  of  the  other  Greek  states. 
After  an  absence  of  two  years  the  three  commissioners  returned  to 
Rome  (B.C.  452),  and  it  was  now  resolved  that  a  Council  of  Ten, 
or  Decemvirs,  should  be  appointed  to  draw  up  a  code  of  laws,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  to  carry  on  the  government  and  administer  jus- 
tice. All  the  other  magistrates  were  obliged  to  abdicate,  and  no 
exception  was  made  even  in  favor  of  the  Tribunes.  The  Decem- 
virs were  thus  intrusted  with  supreme  power  in  the  state.  They 
entered  upon  their  office  at  the  beginning  of  B.C.  451.  They  were 
all  Patricians.  At  their  head  stood  Appius  Claudius  and  T.  Ge- 
nticius,  who  had  been  already  appointed  consuls  for  the  year. 
They  discharged  the  duties  of  their  office  with  diligence,  and  dis- 
pensed justice  with  impartiality.  Each  administered  the  govern- 
ment day  by  day  in  succession,  and  the  fasces  were  carried  only 
be.fore  the  one  who  presided  for  the  day.  They  drew  up  a  Code 
of  Ten  Tables,  in  which  equal  justice  was  dealt  out  to  both  orders. 
The  Ten  Tables  received  the  sanction  of  the  Comitia  of  the  Cen- 
turies, and  thus  became  law. 

On  the  expiration  of  their  year  of  office  all  parties  were  so  well 
satisfied  with  the  manner  in  which  the  Decemvirs  had  discharged 
their  duties  that  it  was  resolved  to  continue  the  same  form  of  gov- 
ernment for  another  year,  more  especially  as  some  of  them  said 
that  their  work  was  not  finished.  A  new  Council  of  Ten  was  ac- 
cordingly elected,  of  whom  Appius  Claudius  alone  belonged  to  the 
former  body.  He  had  so  carefully  concealed  his  pride  and  ambi- 
tion during  the  previous  year  that  he  had  been  the  most  popular 
member  of  the  council,  and  the  Patricians,  to  prevent  his  appoint- 
ment for  another  year,  had  ordered  him  to  preside  at  the  Comitia 
for  the  elections,  thinking  that  he  would  not  receive  votes  for  him- 
self. But  Appius  set  such  scruples  at  defiance,  and  not  only  re- 
turned himself  as  elected,  but  took  care  that  his  nine  colleagues 


88  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  V. 

should  be  subservient  to  his  views.  He  now  threw  off  the  mask 
he  had  hitherto  worn,  and  acted  as  the  tyrant  of  Home.  Each 
Decemvir  was  attended  by  twelve  lictors,  who  carried  the  fasces 
with  the  axes  in  them,  so  that  120  lictors  were  seen  in  the  city  in- 
stead of  12.  The  Senate  was  rarely  summoned.  No  one  was 
now  safe,  and  many  of  the  leading  men  quitted  Rome.  Two  new 
Tables  were  added  to  the  Code,  making  twelve  in  all ;  but  these 
new  laws  were  of  the  most  oppressive  kind,  and  confirmed  the 
Patricians  in  their  most  odious  privileges. 

When  the  year  came  to  a  close  the  Decemvirs  neither  resigned 
nor  held  Comitia  for  the  election  of  successors,  but  continued  to 
hold  their  power  in  defiance  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  People. 
Next  year  (B.C.  449)  the  Sabines  and  JEquians  invaded  the  Roman 
territory,  and  two  armies  were  dispatched  against  them,  command- 
ed by  some  of  the  Decemvirs.  Appius  remained  at  Rome  to  ad- 
minister justice.  But  the  soldiers  fought  with  no  spirit  under  the 
command  of  men  whom  they  detested,  and  two  acts  of  outrageous 
tyranny  caused  them  to  turn  their  arms  against  their  hated  mas- 
ters. 

In  the  army  fighting  against  the  Sabines  was  a  centurion  named 
L.  Sicinius  Dentatus,  the  bravest  of  the  brave.  He  had  fought  in 
120  battles;  he  had  slain  eight  of  the  enemy  in  single  combat; 
had  received  40  wounds,  all  in  front ;  he  had  accompanied  the  tri- 
umphs of  nine  generals ;  and  had  war-crowns  and  other  rewards 
innumerable.  As  Tribune  of  the  Plebs  four  years  before,  he  had 
taken  an  active  part  in  opposing  the  Patricians,  and  was  now  sus- 
pected of  plotting  against  the  Decemvirs.  His  death  was  accord- 
ingly resolved  on,  and  he  was  sent  with  a  company  of  soldiers  as 
if  to  reconnoitre  the  enemy's  position.  But  in  a  lonely  spot  they 
fell  upon  him  and  slew  him,  though  not  until  he  had  destroyed  most 
of  the  traitors.  His  comrades,  who  were  told  that  he  had  fallen  in 
an  ambush  of  the  enemy,  discovered  the  foul  treachery  that  had 
been  practiced  when  they  saw  him  surrounded  by  Roman  soldiers 
who  had  evidently  been  slain  by  him.  The  Decemvirs  prevented 
an  immediate  outbreak  only  by  burying  Dentatus  with  great  pomp, 
but  the  troops  were  ready  to  rise  in  open  mutiny  upon  the  first 
provocation. 

In  the  other  army  sent  against  the  JEquians  there  was  a  well- 
known  centurion  named  Virginius.  He  had  a  beautiful  daughter, 
betrothed  to  L.  Icilius,  an  eminent  leader  of  the  Plebeian  order. 
The  maiden  had  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Decemvir  Appius 
Claudius.  He  at  first  tried  bribes  and  allurements,  but  when 
these  failed  he  had  recourse  to  an  outrageous  act  of  tyranny.  One 
morning,  as  Virginia,  attended  by  her  nurse,  wns  on  the  way  to  her 


B.C.  451-449.  THE  DECEMVIRATE.  39 

school,  which  was  in  one  of  the  booths  surrounding  the  forum,  M. 
Claudius,  a  client  of  Appius,  laid  hold  of  the  damsel  and  claimed 
her  as  his  slave.  The  cry  of  the  nurse  for  help  brought  a  crowd 
around  them,  and  all  parties  went  before  the  Decemvir.  In  his 
presence  Marcus  repeated  the  tale  he  had  learnt,  asserting  that 
Virginia  was  the  child  of  one  of  his  female  slaves,  and  had  been 
imposed  upon  Virginius  by  his  wife,  who  was  childless.  He  far- 
ther stated  that  he  would  prove  this  to  Virginius  as  soon  as  he  re- 
turned to  Rome,  and  he  demanded  that  the  girl  should  meantime 
be  handed  over  to  his  custody.  Appius,  fearing  a  riot,  said  that 
he  would  let  the  cause  stand  over  till  the  next  day,  but  that  then, 
whether  her  father  appeared  or  not,  he  should  know  how  to  main- 
tain the  laws.  Straightway  two  friends  of  the  family  made  all 
haste  to  the  camp,  which  they  reached  the  same  evening.  Virgin- 
ius immediately  obtained  leave  of  absence,  and  was  already  on  his 
way  to  Rome,  when  the  messenger  of  Appius  arrived,  instructing 
his  colleagues  to  detain  him.  Early  next  morning  Virginius  and 
his  daughter  came  into  the  forum  with  their  garments  rent.  The 
father  appealed  to  the  people  for  aid,  and  the  women  in  their  com- 
pany sobbed  aloud.  But,  intent  upon  the  gratification  of  his  pas- 
sions, Appius  cared  not  for  the  misery  of  the  father  and  the  girl, 
and  hastened  to  give  sentence,  by  which  he  consigned  the  maiden 
to  his  client.  Appius,  who  had  brought  with  him  a  large  body  of 
patricians  and  their  clients,  ordered  his  lictors  to  disperse  the  mob. 
The  people  drew  back,  leaving  Virginius  and  his  daughter  alono 
before  the  judgment-seat.  All  help  was  gone.  The  unhappy  fa- 
ther then  prayed  the  Decemvir  to  be  allowed  to  speak  one  word  to 
the  nurse  in  his  daughter's  hearing,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether 
she  was  really  his  daughter.  The  request  was  granted.  Virgin- 
ius drew  them  both  aside,  and,  snatching  up  a  butcher's-knife  from 
one  of  the  stalls,  plunged  it  into  his  daughter's  breast,  exclaiming, 
"There  is  no  way  but  this  to  keep  thee  free."  In  vain  did  Appius 
call  out  to  stop  him.  The  crowd  made  way  for  him,  and,  holding  his 
bloody  knife  on  high,  he  rushed  to  the  gate  of  the  city  and  hasten- 
ed to  the  army.  His  comrades  espoused  his  cause,  expelled  their 
commanders,  and  marched  toward  Rome.  They  were  soon  joined 
by  the  other  army,  to  whom  Numitorius  and  Icilius  had  carried 
the  tidings.  The  Plebeians  in  the  city  flocked  to  them,  and  they  all 
resolved  to  retire  once  more  to  the  Sacred  Mount. 

This  second  secession  extorted  from  the  Patricians  the  second 
great  charter  of  the  Plebeian  rights.  The  Patricians  compelled 
the  Decemvirs  to  resign,  and  sent  L.  Valerius  and  M.  Horatius,  two 
of  the  most  eminent  men  of  their  order,  to  negotiate  with  the  Ple- 
beians. It  was  finally  agreed  that  the  Tribunes  should  bo  restored, 


40  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CIIAI-.  V. 

that  the  authority  of  the  Comitia  Tributa  should  be  recognized, 
and  that  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  people  against  the  power  of  the 
supreme  magistrates  should  be  confirmed.  The  Plebeians  now 
returned  to  the  city,  and  elected,  for  the  first  time,  ten  Tribunes 
instead  of  five,  a  number  which  remained  unchanged  down  to  the 
latest  times.  Virginius,  Icilius,  and  Numitorius  were  among  the 
new  Tribunes. 

Two  Consuls  were  elected  in  place  of  the  Decemvirs,  and  the 
choice  of  the  Comitia  Centuriata  naturally  fell  upon  Valerius  and 
Horatius.  The  new  Consuls  now  redeemed  their  promises  to  the 
Plebeians  by  bringing  forward  the  laws  which  are  called  after 
them,  the  Valerian  and  Horatian  Laics.  These  celebrated  laws  en- 
acted : 

1.  That  every  Roman  citizen  should  have  the  right  of  appeal 
against  the  sentence  of  the  supreme  magistrate.    This  was,  in  fact, 
a  solemn  confirmation  of  the  old  law  of  Valerius  Publicola,  passed 
in  the  first  year  of  the  republic.     It  was  enacted  again  a  third  time 
in  B.C.  300,  on  the  proposal  of  M.  Valerius,  the  Consul.     These  re- 
peated enactments  gave  a  still  farther  sanction  to  the  law.     In  the 
same  way  the  Great  Charter  of  England  was  ratified  several  times. 

2.  That  the  Welnscita,  or  resolutions  passed  by  the  Plebeians  in 
the  Comitia  Tributa,  should  have  the  force  of  laws,  and  should  be 
binding  alike  upon  Patricians  and  Plebeians. 

3.  That  the  persons  of  the  Tribunes,  ^Ediles,  and  other  Plebeian 
magistrates  should  be  sacred,  and  whoever  injured  them  should 
be  sold  as  a  slave. 

Virginius  now  accused  Appius  Claudius,  who  was  thrown  into 
prison  to  await  his  trial.  But  the  proud  Patrician,  seeing  that  his 
condemnation  was  certain,  put  an  end  to  his  own  life.  Oppius, 
another  of  the  Decemvirs,  and  the  personal  friend  of  Appius,  was 
condemned  and  executed.  The  other  Decemvirs  were  allowed  to 
go  into  exile,  but  they  were  all  declared  guilty,  and  their  property 
confiscated  to  the  state. 

The  Twelve  Tables  were  always  regarded  as  the  foundation  of 
the  Roman  law,  and  long  continued  to  be  held  in  the  highest  esti- 
mation. But  they  probably  did  little  more  than  fix  in  a  written 
form  a  large  body  of  customary  law,  though  even  this  was  a  bene- 
fit to  the  Plebeians,  as  they  were  no  longer  subject  to  the  arbitrary 
decisions  of  the  Patrician  magistrates.  Tho  Patricians  still  re- 
tained their  exclusive  privileges ;  and  the  eleventh  table  even  gave- 
the  sanction  of  law  to  the  old  custom  which  prohibited  all  inter- 
marriage (connubiuiit)  between  the  two  orders. 


View  in  the  neighborhood  of  VeiL 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FROM  THE  DECEMVIRATE  TO  THE  CAPTURE  OF  ROME  BY  THE 

GAULS.  B.C.  448-390. 

THE  efforts  of  the  leaders  of  the  Plebeians  were  now  directed 
to  two  subjects,  tbe  removal  of  the  prohibition  of  intermarriage  be- 
tween the  two  orders,  and  the  opening  of  the  Consulship  to  their 
own  order.  They  attained  the  first  object  four  years  after  the  De- 
cemvirate  by  the  Lex  Canuleia,  proposed  by  Canulcius,  one  of  the 
Tribunes  (u.c.  445).  But  they  did  not  carry  this  law  without  a 
third  secession,  in  which  they  occupied  the  Janiculum.  At  the 
same  time  a  compromise  was  effected  with  respect  to  the  Consul- 
ship. The  Patricians  agreed  that  the  supreme  power  in  the  state 
should  be  intrusted  to  new  officers  bearing  the  title  of  Military 
Tribunes  with  Consular  Power,  who  might  be  chosen  equally  from 
Patricians  and  Plebeians.  Their  number  varied  in  different  years 
from  three  to  six.  In  B.C.  444  three  Military  Tribunes  were  nom- 
inated for  the  first  time.  In  the  following  year  (443)  two  new 
magistrates,  called  Censors,  were  appointed.  They  were  always 
to  be  chosen  from  the  Patricians ;  and  the  reason  of  the  institn- 


42  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  VI. 

tion  clearly  was  to  deprive  the  Military  Tribunes  of  some  of  the 
most  important  functions,  which  had  been  formerly  discharged  by 
the  Consuls.  The  Censors  originally  held  office  for  a  period  of 
five  years,  which  was  called  a  lustrum ;  but  their  tenure  was  limit- 
ed  to  eighteen  months,  as  early  as  ten  years  after  its  institution 
(B.C.  443),  by  a  law  of  the  Dictator  Mamercus  JEmilius,  though 
they  continued  to  be  appointed  only  once  in  five  years.* 

Though  the  Military  Tribunes  could  from  their  first  institution 
be  chosen  from  either  order,  yet  such  was  the  influence  of  the  Pa- 
tricians in  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries  that  it  was  not  till  B.C. 
400,  or  nearly  forty  years  afterward,  that  any  Plebeians  were  act- 
ually elected.  In  B.C.  421  the  Qttajstorship  was  also  thrown  open 
to  them.  The  Qutcstors  were  the  paymasters  of  the  state ;  and  as 
the  Censors  had  to  fill  up  vacancies  in  the  Senate  from  those  who 
had  held  the  office  of  Quaestor,  the  Plebeians  thus  became  eligible 
for  the  Senate. 

During  these  struggles  between  the  two  orders  an  event  took 
place  which  is  frequently  referred  to  by  later  writers.  In  the  year 
440  B.C.  there  was  a  great  famine  at  Rome.  Sp.  Maelius,  one  of 
the  richest  of  the  Plebeian  knights,  expended  his  fortune  in  buy- 
ing up  corn,  which  he  sold  to  the  poor  at  a  small  price,  or  distrib- 
uted among  them  gratuitously.  The  Patricians  thought,  or  pre- 
tended to  think,  that  he  was  aiming  at  kingly  power :  and  in  the 
following  year  (439)  the  aged  Quintius  Cincinnatus,  who  had  saved 
the  Roman  army  on  Mount  Algidus,  was  appointed  Dictator.  He 
nominated  C.  Servilius  Ahala  his  Master  of  the  Horse.  During 
the  night  the  Capitol  and  all  the  strong  posts  were  garrisoned  by 
the  Patricians,  and  in  the  morning  Cincinnatus  appeared  in  the 
forum  with  a  strong  force,  and  summoned  Maelius  to  appear  be- 
fore his  tribunal.  But  seeing  the  fate  which  awaited  him,  he  re- 
fused to  go,  whereupon  Ahala  rushed  into  the  crowd  and  struck 
him  dead  upon  the  spot.  His  property  was  confiscated,  and  his 
house  was  leveled  to  the  ground.  The  deed  of  Ahala  is  frequent- 
ly mentioned  by  Cicero  and  other  writers  in  terms  of  the  highest 
admiration,  but  it  was  regarded  by  the  Plebeians  at  the  time  as  an 
act  of  murder.  Ahala  was  brought  to  trial,  and  only  escaped  con- 
demnation by  a  voluntary  exile. 

In  their  foreign  wars  the  Romans  continued  to  be  successful, 
and,  aided  by  their  allies  the  Latins  and  Hernicans,  they  made 

*  The  Censorship  was  regarded  as  the  highest  dignity  in  the  state,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Dictator  hi;).  The  duties  of  the  tienoon  were  numerous  and 
important.  They  not  o:.iy  took  the  census — <~>T  the  register  of  the  citizens  and 
their  property — but  they  :  Uo  chose  tho  members  of  the  Senate,  ox<  r.-ised  a  su- 
perintendence over  the  whole  public  and  private  life  of  the  citizens,  an J,  in  addi- 
tion, b««l  the  adminiwtration  of  the  finances  <-f  thu  stuto. 


B.C.  396.  CAPTURE  OP  VEIL  43 

steady  progress  in  driving  back  their  old  enemies  the  Volscians 
tuid  ./Equians.  About  this  time  they  planted  several  colonies  in 
the  districts  which  they  conquered.  These  Roman  colonies  dif- 
fered widely  from  those  of  ancient  Greece  and  of  modern  Europe. 
They  were  of  the  nature  of  garrisons  established  in  conquered 
towns,  and  served  both  to  strengthen  and  extend  the  power  of 
Rome.  The  colonists  received  a  portion  of  the  conquered  territo- 
ry, and  lived  as  a  ruling  class  among  the  old  inhabitants,  who  re- 
tained the  use  of  the  land. 

The  Romans  now  renewed  their  wars  with  the  Etruscans ;  and 
tlic  capture  of  the  important  city  of  Veii  was  the  first  decisive  ad- 
vantage gained  by  the  Republic.  The  hero  of  this  period  was 
Camillus,  who  stands  out  prominently  as  the  greatest  general  of 
the  infant  Republic,  who  saved  Rome  from  the  Gauls,  and  whom 
later  ages  honored  as  a  second  Romulus. 

Veii,  however,  was  only  taken  after  a  long  and  severe  struggle. 
It  was  closely  allied  with  Fidena:,  a  town  of  Latium,  not  move  than 
five  or  six  miles  from  Rome.  The  two  cities  frequently  united 
their  arms  against  Rome,  and  in  one  of  these  wars  Lars  Tolum- 
nius,  the  king  of  Veii,  was  slain  in  single  combat  by  A.  Cornelius 
Coss-us,  one  of  the  Military  Tribunes,  and  his  arms  dedicated  to 
Jupiter,  the  second  of  the  three  instances  in  which  the  S]>olia  Opi- 
um were  won  (B.C.  437).  A  few  years  afterward  Fidena;  was  taken 
and  destroyed  (B.C.  426),  and  at  the  same  time  a  truce  was  grant- 
ed to  the  Veientines  for  twenty  years.  At  the  expiration  of  this 
truce  the  war  was  renewed,  and  the  Romans  resolved  to  subdue 
Veii  as  they  had  done  Fidenoe.  The  siege  of  Veii,  like  that  of 
Troy,  lasted  ten  years,  and  the  means  of  its  capture  was  almost  as 
marvelous  as  the  wooden  horse  by  which  Troy  was  taken.  The 
waters  of  the  Alban  Lake  rose  to  such  a  height  as  to  deluge  the 
neighboring  country.  An  oracle  declared  that  Veii  could  not  be 
taken  until  the  waters  of  the  lake  found  a  passage  to  the  sea. 
This  reached  the  ears  of  the  Romans,  vJio  thereupon  constructed  a 
tunnel  to  carry  off  its  superfluous  waters.*  The  formation  of  this 
tunnel  is  said  to  have  suggested  to  the  Romans  the  means  of  tak- 
ing Veii.  M.  Fiirius  Camillus,  who  was  appointed  Dictator,  com- 
menced digging  a  mine  beneath  the  city,  which  was  to  have  its 
outlet  in  the  citadel,  in  the  temple  of  Juno,  the  guardian  deity  of 
Veii.  When  the  mine  was  finished,  the  attention  of  the  inhabit- 
ants was  diverted  by  feigned  assaults  against  the  walls.  Camillus 

•  This  remarkable  work,  which,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  two  thousand 
years,  still  continues  to  serve  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  originally  designed, 
Is  cut  through  the  soft  volcanic  tufa  of  which  the  Alban  Hill  is  composed .  The 
length  of  tho  tunnel  id  about  CO.OO  feet,  and  it  is  4  feet  C  inches  wide. 


44  I11STOKY  OF  ROME.  CHAT.  VI. 

led  the  way  into  the  mine  at  the  head  of  a  picked  body  of  troops. 
As  he  stood  beneath  the  temple  of  Juno,  he  heard  the  soothsayer 
declare  to  the  king  of  the  Veientines  that  whoever  should  complete 
the  sacrifice  he  was  offering  would  be  the  conqueror.  Thereupon 
the  Romans  burst  forth  and  seized  the  flesh  of  the  victim,  which 
Camillus  offered  up.  The  soldiers  who  guarded  the  walls  were 
thus  taken  in  the  rear,  the  gates  were  thrown  open,  and  the  city 
soon  filled  with  Romans.  .  The  booty  was  immense,  and  the  few 
citizens  who  escaped  the  sword  were  sold  as  slaves.  The  image 
of  Juno  was  carried  to  Rome,  and  installed  with  great  pomp  on 
Mount  Aventine,  where  a  temple  was  erected  to  her.  Camillus 
entered  Rome  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  four  white  horses.  Rome 
had  never  yet  seen  so  magnificent  a  triumph  (B.C.  396). 

One  circumstance,  which  occurred  during  the  siege  of  Veii,  de- 
serves notice.  As  the  Roman  soldiers  were  obliged  to  pass  the 
whole  year  under  arms,  in  order  to  invest  the  city  during  the  win- 
ter as  well  as  the  summer,  they  now,  fur  the  first  time,  received 
pay. 

Veii  was  a  more  beautiful  city  than  Rome,  and,  as  it  was  now 
without  inhabitants,  many  of  the  Roman  people  wished  to  remove 
thither.  At  the  persuasion  of  Camillus  the  project  was  abandon- 
ed; but  the  territory  of  Veii  was  divided  among  the  Plebeians. 

Palerii  was  almost  the  only  one  of  the  Etruscan  cities  which  had 
assisted  Veii,  and  she  was  now  exposed  single-handed  to  the  venge- 
ance of  the  Romans.  It  is  related  that,  when  Camillus  appeared 
before  Falerii,  a  schoolmaster  of  the  town  treacherously  conduct- 
ed the  sons  of  the  noblest  families  into  the  Roman  camp,  but  that 
Camillus,  scorning  the  baseness  of  the  man,  ordered  his  arms  to 
be  tied  behind  him,  and  the  boys  to  flog  him  back  into  the  town ; 
whereupon  the  inhabitants,  overcome  by  such  generosity,  gave  up 
their  arms,  and  surrendered  to  the  Romans  (B.C.  394). 

Camillus  was  one  of  the  proudest  of  the  Patricians ;  and  he  now 
incurred  the  hatred  of  the  Plebeians  by  calling  upon  every  man  to 
refund  a  tenth  of  the  booty  taken  at  Veii,  because  he  had  made  a 
vow  to  consecrate  to  Apollo  a  tithe  of  the  spoil.  lie  was  accused 
of  having  appropriated  the  great  bronze  gates  at  Veii,  and  was 
impeached  by  one  of  the  Tribunes.  Seeing  that  his  condemnation 
was  certain,  he  went  into  exile,  praying  as  he  left  the  walls  that 
the  Republic  might  soon  have  cause  to  regret  him  (B.C.  491).  His 
prayer  was  heard,  for  the  Gauls  had  already  crossed  the  Apen- 
nines, and  next  year  Rome  was  in  ashes. 


Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinua  restored. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FROM   THE   CAPTURE   OF   ROME    BY   THE    GAULS   TO   THE   FINAL 
UNION   OF   THE    TWO   ORDERS.       B.C.  390-367. 

THE  Gauls  or  Celts  were  in  ancient  times  spread  over  the  great- 
er part  of  Western  Europe.  They  inhabited  Gaul  and  the  British 
isles,  and  had  in  the  time  of  the  Tarquins  crossed  the  Alps  and 
taken  possession  of  Northern  Italy.  But  they  now  spread  farther 
south,  crossed  the  Apennines,  and  laid  waste  with  fire  and  sword 
the  provinces  of  Central  Italy.  Rome  fell  before  them,  and  was 
reduced  to  ashes ;  but  the  details  of  its  capture  are  clearly  legend- 
ary. The  common  story  runs  as  follows : 

The  Senones,  a  tribe  of  the  Gauls,  led  by  their  chief  Brennus, 
laid  siege  to  Clusium,  the  powerful  Etruscan  city  over  which  Lars 
Porsena  once  reigned.  Such  reputation  had  Rome  gained  through 
her  conquests  in  Etruria,  that  Clusium  applied  to  her  for  aid  (B.C. 
391).  The  Senate  sent  three  embassadors,  sons  of  the  chief  pon- 
tiff, Fabius  Ambustus,  to  warn  the  barbarians  not  to  touch  an  ally 
of  Rome.  But  the  Gauls  treated  their  message  with  scorn ;  and 
the  embassadors,  forgetting  their  sacred  character,  fought  in  the 
Clusine  ranks.  One  of  the  Fabii  slew  with  his  own  hands  a  Gallic 
chieftain,  and  was  recognized  while  stripping  off  his  armor.  Breii- 


46  HISTORY  OF  KOME.  CIIAF.  VII. 

nns  therefore  sent  to  Rome  to  demand  satisfaction.  The  Roman 
people  not  only  refused  to  give  it,  but  elected  the  three  Fabii  as 
Military  Tribunes  for  the  following  year.  On  hearing  of  this  in- 
sult, the  Gauls  broke  up  the  siege  of  Clusium,  and  hastened  south- 
ward toward  Rome.  All  the  inhabitants  fled  before  them  into  the 
towns.  They  pursued  their  course  without  injuring  any  one,  cry- 
ing to  the  guards  upon  the  walls  of  the  towns  they  passed,  "Our 
way  lies  for  Rome.  On  the  news  of  their  approach  the  Roman 
army  hurried  out  of  the  city,  and  on  the  IGth  of  July  (B.C.  390), 
a  day  ever  after  regarded  as  disastrous,  they  met  the  Gauls  on  the 
Allia,  a  small  river  which  flows  into  the  Tiber,  on  its  left  bank, 
about  eleven  miles  from  Rome.  Brennus  attacked  the  Romans  on 
the  flank,  and  threw  them  into  confusion.  A  general  panic  seized 
them:  they  turned  and  fled.  Some  escaped  across  the  Tiber  to 
Veii,  and  a  few  reached  Rome,  but  the  greater  number  were  slain 
by  the  Gauls. 

The  loss  at  the  Allia  had  been  so  great  that  enough  men  were 
not  left  to  guard  the  walls  of  the  city.  It  was  therefore  resolved 
that  those  in  the  vigor  of  their  age  should  withdraw  to  the  Capitol, 
taking  with  them  all  the  provisions  in  the  city ;  that  the  priests 
and  Vestal  Virgins  should  convey  the  objects  of  religious  rever- 
ence to  Caere ;  and  that  the  rest  of  the  population  should  disperse 
among  the  neighboring  towns.  But  the  aged  senators,  who  had 
been  Consuls  or  Censors,  seeing  that  their  lives  were  no  longer  of 
any  service  to  the  state,  sat  down  in  the  forum  on  their  curule 
thrones  awaiting  death.  When  the  Gauls  entered  the  city  they 
found  it  desolate  and  deathlike.  They  marched  on,  without  seeing 
a  human  being  till  they  came  to  the  forum.  Here  they  beheld  the 
aged  senators  sitting  immovable,  like  beings  of  another  world. 
For  some  time  they  gazed  in  awe  at  this  strange  sight,  till  at  length 
one  of  the  Gauls  ventured  to  go  up  to  M.  Papirius  and  stroke  his 
white  beard.  The  old  man  struck  him  on  the  head  with  his  ivory 
sceptre ;  whereupon  the  barbarian  slew  him,  and  all  the  rest  were 
massacred.  The  Gauls  now  began  plundering  the  city ;  fires 
broke  out  in  several  quarters  j  and  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
houses  on  the  Palatine,  which  the  chiefs  kept  for  their  own  rcsi» 
dence,  the  whole  city  was  burnt  to  the  ground. 
1  The  Capitol  was  the  next  object  of  attack.  There  was  only  one 
steep  way  leading  up  to  it,  and  all  the  assaults  of  the  besiegers 
were  easily  repelled.  They  thereupon  turned  the  siege  into  a 
blockade,  and  for  seven  months  were  encamped  amid  the  ruins  of 
Rome.  But  their  numbers  were  soon  thinned  by  disease,  for  they 
had  entered  Rome  in  the  most  unhealthy  time  of  the  year,  when 
fevers  have  always  prevailed.  The  failure  of  provisions  obliged 


B.C.  8i)0.  CAPTURE  OF  ROME  BY  THE  GAULS.     47 

them  to  ravage  the  neighboring  countries,  the  people  of  which  be- 
gan to  combine  for  defense  against  the  marauders.  Meantime  the 
scattered  Romans  took  courage.  They  collected  at  Veii,  and  here 
resolved  to  recall  Camillus  from  banishment,  and  appoint  him  Dic- 
tator. In  order  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  a  daring 
youth,  named  Pontius  Cominius,  offered  to  swim  across  the  Tiber 
and  climb  the  Capitol.  He  reached  the  top  unperceived  by  tho 
"enemy,  obtained  the  approval  of  the  Senate  to  the  appointment  of 
Ciimillus,  and  returned  safely  to  Veii.  But  next  day  some  Gauls 
observed  the  traces  of  his  steps,  and  in  the  dead  of  night  they 
climbed  up  the  same  way.  The  foremost  of  them  had  already 
reached  the  top,  unnoticed  by  the  sentinels  and  the  dogs,  when  the 
cries  of  some  geese  roused  M.  Manlius  from  sleep.  These  geese 
were  sacred  to  Juno,  and  had  been  spared  notwithstanding  the 
gnawings  of  hunger ;  and  the  Romans  were  now  rewarded  for  their 
piety.  M.  Manlius  thrust  down  the  Gaul  who  had  clambered  up, 
and  gave  the  alarm.  The  Capitol  was  thus  saved ;  and  down  to 
latest  times  M.  Manlius  was  honored  as  one  of  the  greatest  heroes 
of  the  early  Republic. 

Still  no  help  came,  and  the  Gauls  remained  before  the  Capitol. 
The  Romans  suffered  from  famine,  and  at  length  agreed  to  pay 
the  barbarians  1000  pounds  of  gold,  on  condition  of  their  quitting 
the  city  and  its  territory.  Brennus  brought  false  weights,  and, 
when  the  Romans  exclaimed  against  this  injustice,  the  Gallic  chief 
threw  his  sword  also  into  the  scale,  crying,  "Woe  to  the  vanquish- 
ed !"  But  at  this  very  moment  Camillus  marched  into  the  forum, 
ordered  the  gold  to  be  taken  away,  and  drove  the  Gauls  out  of  the 
city.  Another  battle  was  fought  on  the  road  to  Gabii,  in  which 
the  Gauls  were  completely  destroyed,  and  their  leader  Brennus 
taken  prisoner.  This  tale,  however,  is  an  invention  of  Roman 
vanity.  We  learn  from  other  sources  that  the  Gauls  retreated  be- 
cause their  settlements  in  Northern  Italy  were  attacked  by  the  Ve- 
netians; and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  their  departure  was 
hastened  by  a  present  of  Roman  gold.  The  Gauls  frequently  re- 
peated their  inroads,  and  for  many  years  to  come  were  the  constant 
dread  of  the  Romans. 

When  the  Romans  returned  to  the  heap  of  ruins  which  was  once 
their  city  their  hearts  sank  within  them.  The  people  shrank  from 
the  expense  and  toil  of  rebuilding  their  houses,  and  loudly  demand- 
ed that  they  should  all  remove  to  Veii,  where  the  private  dwellings 
and  public  buildings  were  still  standing.  But  Camillus  and  the 
Patricians  strongly  urged  them  not  to  abandon  the  homes  of  their 
fathers,  and  they  were  at  length  persuaded  to  remain.  The  state 
granted  bricks,  and  stones  were  fetched  from  Veii.  Within  a  year 


48  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  VIL 

the  city  rose  from  its  ashes ;  but  the  streets  were  narrow  and  crook- 
ed ;  the  houses  were  frequently  built  over  the  sewers  ;  and  the 
city  continued  to  show,  down  to  the  great  fire  of  Nero,  evident 
traces  of  the  haste  and  irregularity  with  which  it  had  been  rebuilt. 

Rome  was  now  deprived  of  almost  all  her  subjects,  and  her  ter- 
ritory was  reduced  to  nearly  its  original  limits.  The  Latins  and 
Hernicans  dissolved  the  League  with  the  Romans,  and  wars  broke 
out  on  every  side.  In  these  difficulties  and  dangers  Camillas  was 
the  soul  of  the  Republic.  Again  and  again  he  led  the  Roman  le- 
gions against  their  enemies,  and  always  with  success.  The  rapidi- 
ty with  which  the  Romans  recovered  their  power  after  so  terrible 
a  disaster  would  seem  unaccountable  but  for  the  fact  that  the  oth- 
er nations  had  also  suffered  greatly  from  the  inroads  of  tbe  Gauls, 
who  still  continued  to  ravage  Central  Italy.  Two  of  their  inva- 
sions of  the  Roman  territory  are  commemorated  by  celebrated  le- 
gends, which  may  be  related  here,  though  they  belong  to  a  later 
period. 

In  B.C.  3G1  the  Gauls  and  Romans  were  encamped  on  either 
bank  of  the  Arno.  A  gigantic  Gaul  stepped  forth  from  the  ranks 
and  insultingly  challenged  a  Roman  knight.  T.  Manlius,  a  Ro- 
man youth,  obtained  permission  from  his  general  to  accept  the 
challenge,  slew  the  giant,  and  took  from  the  dead  body  the  golden 
chain  (torques)  which  the  barbarian  wore  around  his  neck.  His 
comrades  gave  him  the  surname  of  Torquatus,  which  he  handed 
down  to  his  descendants. 

In  B.C.  349  another  distinguished  Roman  family  earned  its  sur- 
name from  a  single  combat  with  a  Gaul.  Here  again  a  Gallic 
warrior  of  gigantic  size  challenged  any  one  of  the  Romans  to  sin- 
gle combat.  His  challenge  was  accepted  by  M.  Valerius,  upon 
\vhose  helmet  a  raven  perched ;  and  as  they  fought,  the  bird  flew 
into  the  face  of  the  Gaul,  striking  at  him  with  its  beak  and  flapping 
his  wings.  Thus  Valerius  slew  the  Gaul,  and  was  called  in  conse- 
quence "Corvus,"or  the  "Raven." 

It  is  now  necessary  to  revert  to  the  internal  history  of  Rome. 
Great  suffering  and  discontent  prevailed.  Returning  to  ruined 
homes  and  ravaged  lands,  the  poor  citizens  had  been  obliged  to 
borrow  money  to  rebuild  their  houses  and  cultivate  their  farms. 
The  law  of  debtor  and  creditor  at  Rome,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
was  very  severe,  and  many  unfortunate  debtors  were  carried  away 
to  bondage.  Under  these  circumstances,  M.  Manlius,  the  preserver 
of  the  Capitol,  came  forward  as  the  patron  of  the  poor.  This  dis- 
tinguished man  had  been  bitterly  disappointed  in  his  claims  to 
honor  and  gratitude.  While  Camillus,  his  personal  enemy,  who 
had  shared  in  none  of  the  dangers  of  the  siege,  was  repeatedly 


B.C.  37C.     THE  UNION  OF  THE  TWO  ORDERS.  49 

raised  to  the  highest  honors  of  the  state,  he,  who  had  saved  the 
Capitol,  was  left  to  languish  in  a  private  station.  Neglected  by 
his  own  order,  Manlius  turned  to  the  Plebeians.  One  day  he 
recognized  in  the  forum  a  soldier  who  had  served  with  him  in  the 
field,  and  whom  a  creditor  was  carrying  away  in  fetters.  Manlius 
paid  his  debt  upon  the  spot,  and  swore  that,  as  long  as  he  had  a 
single  pound,  he  would  not  allow  any  Roman  to  be  imprisoned  for 
debt.  He  sold  a  large  part  of  his  property,  and  applied  the  pro- 
ceeds to  the  liberation  of  his  fellow-citizens  from  bondage.  Sup- 
ported now  by  the  Plebeians,  he  came  forward  as  the  accuser  of 
his  own  order,  and  charged  them  with  appropriating  to  their  own 
use  the  gold  which  had  been  raised  to  ransom  the  city  from  the 
Gauls.  The  Patricians  in  return  accused  him,  as  they  had  ac- 
cused Sp.  Cassius,  of  aspiring  to  the  tyranny.  When  he  was 
brought  to  trial  before  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries  in  the  Campus 
Martius,  he  proudly  showed  the  spoils  of  thirty  warriors  whom  he 
had  slain,  the  forty  military  distinctions  which  he  had  won  in  bat- 
tle, and  the  innumerable  scars  upon  his  breast,  and  then  turning 
toward  the  Cnpitol  he  prayed  the  immortal  gods  to  remember  the 
man  who  had  saved  their  temples  from  destruction.  After  such 
an  appeal,  his  condemnation  was  impossible,  and  his  enemies 
therefore  contrived  to  break  up  the  assembly.  Shortly  afterward 
lie  was  arraigned  on  the  same  charges  before  the  Comitia  of  the 
Curies  in  the  Peteline  Grove.  Here  he  was  at  once  condemned, 
and  was  hurled  from  the  Tarpeian  Rock.  His  house,  which  was 
on  the  Capitol,  was  razed  to  the  ground  (B.C.  384). 

The  death  of  Mr.nlius,  however,  was  only  a  temporary  check  to 
the  Plebeian  cause.  A  few  years  afterward  the  contest  came  to  a 
crisis.  In  B.C.  376  C.  Licinius  Stolo  and  his  kinsman  L.  Sextius, 
being  Tribunes  of  the  Plebs,  determined  to  give  the  Plebeians  an 
equal  share  in  the  political  power,  to  deprive  the  Patricians  of  the 
exclusive  use  of  the  public  land,  and  to  remove  the  present  distress 
of  the  Plebeians.  For  this  purpose  they  brought  forward  three 
laws,  which  are  celebrated  in  history  under  the  name  of  THE  Li- 
CINIAN  ROGATIONS.*  These  were : 

I.  That  in  future  Consuls,  and  not  Military  Tribunes,  should  be  ap- 

pointed, and  that  one  of  the  two  Consuls  must  be  a  Plebeian. 

II.  That  no  citizen  should  possess  more  than  500  jugeraf  of  the 

public  land,  nor  should  feed  upon  the  public  pastures  more  than 
100  head  of  large  and  500  of  small  cattle,  under  penalty  of  a 
heavy  fine. 

*  A  Rogatio  differed  from  a  Lex,  aa  a  Bill  from  an  Act  of  Parliament.  A  Eo- 
gatio  was  a  law  submitted  to  tho  assembly  of  the  people,  and  only  became  a  Lex 
when  enacted  by  them.  t  A  Jttnenim  was  rather  more  thin  half  an  acre. 

D 


50  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  VII 

III  That  the  interest  already  paid  for  borrowed  money  should  bo 
deducted  from  the  principal,  and  that  the  remainder  should  be 
repaid  in  three  yearly  instalments. 

These  great  reforms  naturally  excited  the  most  violent  opposi- 
tion, and  the  Patricians  induced  some  of  the  Plebeians  to  put  their 
veto  upon  the  measures  of  their  colleagues.  But  Licinius  and 
Sextius  were  not  to  be  baffled  in  this  way,  and  they  exercised  their 
veto  by  preventing  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries  from  electing  any 
magistrates  for  the  next  year.  Hence  no  Consuls,  Military  Tri- 
bunes, Censors,  or  Quccstors  could  be  appointed ;  and  the  Tribunes 
of  the  Plebs  and  the  JEdilcs,  who  were  elected  by  the  Comitia  of 
the  Tribes,  were  the  only  magistrates  in  the  state.  For  five  years 
did  this  state  of  things  continue.  C.  Licinius  and  L.  Sextius  were 
re-elected  annually,  and  prevented  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries 
from  appointing  any  magistrates.  At  the  end  of  this  time  they  al- 
lowed Military  Tribunes  to  be  chosen  in  consequence  of  a  war  with 
the  Latins ;  but  so  far  were  they  from  yielding  any  of  their  de- 
mands, that  to  their  former  Rogations  they  now  added  another: 
That  the  care  of  the  Sibylline  books,  instead  of  being  intrusted  to 
two  men  (duumviri),  both  Patricians,  should  be  given  to  ten  men 
(decemviri),  half  of  whom  should  be  Plebeians. 

Five  years  more  did  the  struggle  last ;  but  the  firmness  of  the 
Tribunes  at  length  prevailed.  In  B.C.  367  the  Licinian  Rogations 
were  passed,  and  L.  Sextius  was  elected  the  first  Plebeian  Consul 
for  the  next  year.  But  the  Patricians  made  one  last  effort  to  evade 
the  law.  By  the  Roman  constitution,  the  Consuls,  after  being  elect- 
ed by  the  Comitia  Centuriata,  received  the  Imperium,  or  sovereign 
power,  from  the  Comitia  Curiata.  The  Patricians  thus  had  it  in 
their  power  to  nullify  the  election  of  the  Centuries  by  refusing  the 
Imperium.  This  they  did  when  L.  Sextius  was  elected  Consul ; 
and  they  made  Camillus,  the  great  champion  of  their  order,  Dicta- 
tor, to  support  them  in  their  new  struggle.  But  the  old  hero  saw 
that  it  was  too  late,  and  determined  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation 
between  the  two  orders.  A  compromise  was  effected.  The  Im- 
perium was  conferred  upon  L.  Sextius ;  but  the  judicial  duties  were 
taken  away  from  the  Consuls,  and  given  to  a  new  magistrate  called 
Praetor.  Camillus  vowed  to  the  goddess  Concord  a  temple  for  his 
success. 

The  long  struggle  between  the  Patricians  and  Plebeians  was  thus 
brought  to  a  virtual  close.  The  Patricians  still  clung  obstinately 
to  the  exclusive  privileges  which  they  still  possessed ;  but  when  the 
Plebeians  had  once  obtained  a  share  in  the  Consulship,  it  was  evi- 
dent that  their  participation  in  the  other  offices  of  the  state  could 
not  be  much  longer  delayed.  We  may  therefore  anticipate  the 


B.C.  339.  PUBLILIAN  LAWS.  51 

course  of  events  by  narrating  in  this  place  that  the  first  Plebeian 
Dictator  was  C.  Marcius  Rutilus  in  B.C.  35G ;  that  the  same  man 
was  the  first  Plebeian  Censor  five  years  afterward  (B.C.  351) ;  that 
the  Proctorship  was  thrown  open  to  the  Plebeians  in  B.C.  33G ;  and 
that  the  Lex  O^ulnia  in  B.C.  300,  which  increased  the  number  of 
the  Pontiffs  from  four  to  eight,  and  that  of  the  Augurs  from  four 
to  nine,  also  enacted  that  four  of  the  Pontiffs  and  five  of  the  Augurs 
should  be  taken  from  the  Plebeians. 

About  thirty  years  after  the  Licinian  Rogations,  another  import- 
ant reform,  which  abridged  still  farther  the  privileges  of  the  Patri- 
cians, was  effected  by  the  PUBLILIAN  LAWS,  proposed  by  the  Dic- 
tator Q.  Publilius  Philo  in  B.C.  33<J.  These  were : 

I.  That  the  Resolutions  of  the  Plebs  should  be  binding  on  all  the 

Quiritcs,*  thus  giving  to  the  Plebiscita  passed  at  the  Comitia 
of  the  Tribes  the  same  force  as  the  Laws  passed  at  the  Comitia 
of  the  Centuries. 

II.  That  all  laws  passed  at  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries  should  re- 

ceive previously  the  sanction  of  the  Curies  ;  so  that  the  Curies 
were  now  deprived  of  all  power  over  the  Centuries. 

III.  That  one  of  the  Censors  must  be  a  Plebeian. 

The  first  of  these  laws  seems  to  be  little  more  than  a  re-enact- 
ment of  one  of  the  Valerian  and  Iloratian  laws,  passed  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  Decemvirs  ;f  but  it  is  probable  that  the  latter  had 
never  been  really  carried  into  effect.  Even  the  Publilian  Law  upon 
this  subject  seems  to  have  been  evaded ;  and  it  was  accordingly 
enacted  again  by  the  Dictator  Q.  Hortensius  in  B.C.  286.  In  this 
year  the  last  Secession  of  the  Plebeians  took  place,  and  the  LEX 
HORTENSIA  is  always  mentioned  as  the  law  which  gave  to  Plebis- 
cita passed  at  the  Comitia  of  the  Tribes  the  full  power  of  laws  bind- 
ing upon  the  whole  nation.  From  this  time  we  hear  of  no  more 
civil  dissensions  till  the  times  of  the  Gracchi,  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  afterward,  and  the  Lex  Hortensia  may  therefore  be  regarded 
as  the  termination  of  tho  long  struggle  between  the  two  orders. 
*  Utplelisdta  omnes  Quirites  tenerent.  tSee  p.  40. 


Euins  at  Capua. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
FROM  TIIK  LICINIAN  ROGATIONS  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  8AMN1TE 

AVARS.     B.C.  367-290. 

UNITED  at  home,  the  Romans  were  now  prepared  to  cany  on 
their  foreign  wars  with  more  vigor ;  and  their  conquests  of  the 
Samnites  and  Latins  made  them  the  virtual  masters  of  Italy.  But 
the  years  which  immediately  followed  the  Licinian  laws  were  times 
of  great  suffering.  A  pestilence  raged  in  Rome,  which  carried  off 
many  of  the  most  distinguished  men,  and  among  others  the  aged 
Camillus  (B.C.  362).  The  Tiber  overflowed  its  banks,  the  city  was 
shaken  by  earthquakes,  and  a  yawning  chasm  opened  in  the  forum. 
The  soothsayers  declared  that  the  gulf  could  never  be  filled  up  ex- 


3.C.  313-21)0.  THE  SAMNITES.  53 

cept  by  throwing  into  it  that  which  Rome  held  most  valuable.  Tho 
tale  runs  that,  when  every  one  was  doubting  what  the  gods  could 
mean,  a  noble  youth  named  M.  Curtius  came  forward,  and,  declar- 
ing that  Rome  possessed  nothing  so  valuable  as  her  brave  citizens, 
mounted  his  steed  and  leaped  into  the  abyss  in  full  armor,  where- 
upon the  earth  closed  over  him.  This  event  is  assigned  to  the 
year  3G2  B.C. 

During  the  next  few  years  the  Gauls  renewed  their  inroads,  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken,  and  in  the  course  of  which  Manlius 
Torquatus  and  Valerius  Corvus  gained  such  glory.  The  Romans 
steadily  extended  their  dominion  over  the  southern  part  of  Etruria 
and  the  country  of  the  Volscians,  and  the  alliance  with  the  Latins 
was  renewed.  Fifty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  capture  of  the  city 
by  the  Gauls,  and  Rome  was  now  strong  enough  to  enter  into  a  con- 
test with  the  most  formidable  enemy  which  her  arms  had  yet  en- 
countered. The  SAMNITES  were  at  the  height  of  their  power,  and 
the  contest  between  them  and  the  Romans  was  virtually  for  the  su- 
premacy of  Italy.  The  Samnites,  as  we  have  already  seen,  were  a 
people  of  Sabine  origin,  and  had  emigrated  to  the  countiy  which 
they  inhabited  at  a  comparatively  late  period.  They  consisted  of 
four  different  tribes  or  cantons,  the  Pentri,  Hirpini,  Caraceni,  and 
Caudini,  of  whom  the  two  former  were  the  most  important.  They 
inhabited  that  part  of  the  Apennines  which  lies  between  Campania 
and  Lucania,  but  they  were  not  contented  with  their  mountain- 
homes,  and  overran  the  rich  plains  which  lay  at  their  feet.  They 
became  the  masters  of  Campania  and  Lucania,  and  spread  them- 
selves almost  to  the  southern  extremity  of  Italy.  But  the  Sam- 
nites of  Campania  and  Lucania  had  in  course  of  time  broken  off 
all  connection  with  the  parent  nation,  and  sometimes  were  engaged 
in  hostilities  with  the  latter.  It  was  a  contest  of  this  kind  that  led 
to  the  war  between  the  Romans  and  the  Samnites  of  the  Apennines. 
On  the  borders  of  Campania  and  Samnium  dwelt  a  people,  called 
the  Sidicini,  who  had  hitherto  preserved  their  independence.  Be- 
ing attacked  by  the  Samnites,  this  people  implored  the  assistance 
of  the  Campanians,  which  was  readily  granted.  Thereupon  the 
Y  Samnites  turned  their  arms  against  the  Campanians,  and,  after 
occupying  Mount  Tifata,  which  overlooks  the  city  of  Capua,  they 
descended  into  the  plain,  and  defeated  the  Campanians  in  a  pitch- 
ed battle  at  the  very  gates  of  Capua.  The  Campanians,  being  shut 
up  within  the  city,  now  applied  for  assistance  to  Rome,  and  offered 
to  place  Capua  in  their  hands.  The  Romans  had  only  a  few  years 
previously  concluded  an  alliance  with  the  Samnites ;  but  the  bait 
of  the  richest  city  and  the  most  fertile  soil  in  Italy  was  irresistible, 
and  they  resolved  to  comply  with  the  request.  Thus  began  the 


54  HISTOHY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  V1I1. 

Samnite  Wars,  which,  with  a  few  intervals  of  peace,  lasted  63 
years. 

FIRST  SAMNITE  WAR,  B.C.  343-341. — The  Romans  commenced 
the  war  by  sending  two  consular  armies  against  the  Samnitcs  ;  and 
the  first  battle  between  the  rival  nations  was  fought  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Gaurus,  which  lies  about  three  miles  from  Cumaj.  The 
Sanmites  were  defeated  with  great  loss  ;  and  it  has  been  justly*  re- 
marked that  this  battle  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  mem- 
orable in  history,  since  it  was  a  kind  of  omen  of  the  ultimate  issue 
of  the  great  contest  which  had  now  begun  between  the  Samnites 
and  Romans  for  the  sovereignty  of  Italy.  The  Romans  gained 
two  other  decisive  victories,  and  both  consuls  entered  the  city  in 
triumph.  But  two  causes  prevented  the  Romans  from  prosecuting 
their  success.  In  the  first  place,  the  Roman  army,  which  had  been 
wintering  in  Capua,  rose  in  open  mutiny ;  and  the  poorer  Ple- 
beians in  the  city,  who  were  oppressed  by  debt,  left  Rome  and  join- 
ed the  mutineers.  In  the  second  place,  the  increasing  disaffection 
of  the  Latins  warned  the  Romans  t6  husband  their  resources  for 
another  and  more  terrible  struggle.  The  Romans,  therefore, 
abandoning  the  Sidicini  and  Campanians,  concluded  a  treaty  of 
peace  and  alliance  with  the  Samnites  in  B.C.  341,  so  that  in  the 
great  Latin  war,  which  broke  out  in  the  following  year,  the  Sam- 
nites fought  on  the  side  of  the  Romans. 

THE  LATIN  WAR,  B.C.  340-338.— The  Latins  had,  as  already 
stated,  renewed  their  league  with  Rome  in  B.C.  356,  and  conse- 
quently their  troops  had  fought  along  with  the  Romans  in  the  war 
against  the  Samnites.  But  the  increasing  power  of  Rome  excited 
their  alarm  ;  and  it  became  evident  to  them  that,  though  nominal- 
ly on  a  footing  of  equality,  they  were,  in  reality,  becoming  subject  to 
Rome.  This  feeling  was  confirmed  by  the  treaty  of  alliance  which 
the  Romans  had  formed  with  the  Samnites.  The  Latins,  there- 
fore, determined  to  bring  matters  to  a  crisis,  and  sent  two  Praetors, 
who  were  their  chief  magistrates,  to  propose  to  the  Romans  that 
the  two  nations  should  henceforth  form  one  state  ;  that  half  of  the 
state  should  consist  of  Latins,  and  that  one  of  the  two  Consuls 
should  be  chosen  from  Latium.  These  requests  excited  the  great- 
est indignation  at  Rome,  and  were  rejected  with  the  utmost  scorn. 
The  Senate  met  in  the  Temple  of  Jupiter,  in  the  Capitol,  to  receive 
the  Latin  deputation,  and,  after  hearing  their  proposals,  the  Con- 
sul, T.  Manlius  Torquatus,  the  same  who  had  slain  the  Gaul  in 
single  combat,  declared  that,  if  the  Republic  should  cowardly  yield 
to  these  demands,  he  would  come  into  the  senate-house  sword  in 
hand  and  cut  down  the  first  Latin  he  saw  there.  The  tale  goes 
on  to  say  that  in  the  discussion  which  followed,  when  both  parties 


B.C.340.  THE  LATIN  WAR.  55 

were  excited  by  anger,  the  Latin  Proctor  defied  the  Roman  Jupiter  ; 
that  thereupon  an  a\\ful  peal  of  thunder  shook  the  building;  and 
that,  as  the  impious  man  hurried  down  the  steps  from  the  temple, 
he  fell  from  top  to  bottom,  and  lay  there  a  corpse. 

War  was  now  declared,  and  the  most  vigorous  efforts  were  made 
on  both  sides.  The  contest  was  to  decide  whether  Rome  should 
become  a  Latin  town,  or  the  Latins  be  subject  to  Rome.  The  Ro- 
mans had  elected  to  the  consulship  two  of  their  most  distinguished 
men.  The  Patrician  Consul  was,  as  already  mentioned,  T.  Man- 
litis  Torquatus ;  his  Plebeian  colleague  was  P.  Decius  Mus,  who 
had  gained  great  renown  in  the  recent  war  against  the  Samnites. 
The  two  Consuls  marched  through  Samnium  into  Campania,  and 
threatened  Capua,  thus  leaving  Rome  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the 
Latins.  But  the  Consuls  foresaw  that  the  Latins  would  not  aban- 
don Capua,  their  great  acquisition ;  and  the  event  proved  their 
wisdom.  The  contest  was  thus  withdrawn  from  the  territory  of 
Rome  and  transferred  to  Campania,  where  the  Romans  could  re- 
ceive assistance  from  the  neighboring  country  of  their  Samnite  al- 
lies. It  was  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Vesuvius  that  the  two  armies 
met,  and  here  the  battle  was  fought  which  decided  the  contest. 
It  was  like  a  civil  war.  The  soldiers  of  the  two  armies  spoke  the 
same  language,  had  fought  by  each  others'  sides,  and  were  well 
known  to  one  another.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  Consuls 
published  a  proclamation  that  no  Roman  should  engage  in  single 
combat  with  a  Latin  on  pain  of  death.  But  the  son  of  Torquatus, 
provoked  by  the  insults  of  a  Tusculan  officer,  accepted  his  chal- 
lenge, slew  his  adversary,  and  carried  the  bloody  spoils  in  triumph 
to  his  father.  The  Consul  had  within  him  the  heart  of  Brutus ; 
he  would  not  pardon  this  breach  of  discipline,  and  ordered  the  un- 
happy youth  to  be  beheaded  by  the  lictor  in  the  presence  of  the  as- 
sembled army. 

In  the  night  before  the  battle  a  vision  appeared  to  each  Consul, 
announcing  that  the  general  of  one  side  and  the  army  of  the  other 
were  doomed  to  destruction.  Both  agreed  that  the  one  whose 
wing  first  began  to  waver  should  devote  himself  and  the  army  of 
the  enemy  to  the  gods  of  the  lower  world.  Decius  commanded 
the  left  wing ;  and  when  it  began  to  give  way,  he  resolved  to  fulfill 
his  vow.  Calling  the  Pontifcx  -Maximus,  he  repeated  after  him 
the  form  of  words  by  which  he  devoted  himself  and  the  army  of 
the  enemy  to  the  gods  of  the  dead  and  the  mother  earth  ;  then 
leaping  upon  his  horse,  he  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight, 
and  was  slain.  The  Romans  gained  a  signal  victory.  Scarcely  a 
fourth  part  of  the  Latins  escaped  (B.C.  340). 

This  victory  made  the  Romans  masters  of  Campania,  and  the 


5G  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  Cn.u-.  VIIL 

Latins  did  not  dare  to  meet  them  again  in  the  field.  The  war 
continued  two  years  longer,  each  city  confining  itself  to  the  defense 
of  its  own  walls,  and  hoping  to  receive  help  from  others  in  case 
of  an  attack.  But  upon  the  capture  of  Pedum  in  B.C.  338  all  the 
Latins  laid  down  their  arms,  and  garrisons  were  placed  in  their 
towns.  The  Romans  were  now  absolute  masters  of  Latium,  and 
their  great  object  was  to  prevent  the  Latin  cities  from  forming  any 
union  again.  For  this  purpose  not  only  were  all  general  assem= 
blies  forbidden,  but,  in  order  to  keep  the  cities  completely  isolated, 
the  citizens  of  one  town  could  not  marry  or  make  a  legal  contract 
of  bargain  or  sale  with  another.*  Tibur  and  Praneste,  the  two 
most  powerful  cities  of  the  League,  which  had  taken  the  most  act- 
ive part  in  the  war,  were  deprived  of  a  portion  of  their  land,  but 
were  allowed  to  retain  a  nominal  independence,  preserving  their 
own  laws,  and  renewing  from  time  to  time  their  treaties  with  Rome. 
The  inhabitants  of  several  other  towns,  such  as  Tusculum  and  La- 
nuvium,  received  the  Roman  franchise ;  their  territory  was  incor- 
porated in  that  of  the  Republic ;  and  two  new  tribes  were  created 
to  carry  these  arrangements  into  effect.  Many  of  the  most  distin- 
guished Romans  sprung  from  these  Latin  towns. 

Twelve  years  elapsed  between  the  subjugation  of  Latium  and  the 
commencement  of  the  Second  Samnite  War.  During  this  time 
the  Roman  arms  continued  to  make  steady  progress.  One  of  their 
most  important  conquests  was  that  of  the  Volscian  town  of  Priver- 
num  in  B.C.  329,  from  which  time  the  Volscians,  so  long  the  for- 
midable enemies  of  Rome,  disappear  as  an  independent  nation. 
The  extension  of  the  Roman  power  naturally  awakened  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  Samnites ;  and  the  assistance  rendered  by  them  to  the 
Greek  cities  of  Palreopolis  and  Neapolis  was  the  immediate  occa- 
sion of  the  Second  Samnite  War.  These  two  cities  were  colonies 
of  the  neighboring  Curare,  and  were  situated  only  five  miles  from 
each  other.  The  position  of  Pakeopolis,  or  the  "  Old  City,"  is  un- 
certain; but  Neapolis,  or  the  "New  City,"  stands  on  the  site  of  a 
part  of  the  modern  Naples.  The  Romans  declared  war  against  the 
two  cities  in  B.C.  327,  and  sent  the  Consul  Q.  Publilius  Philo  to  re- 
duce them  to  subjection.  The  Greek  colonists  had  previously  form- 
ed an  alliance  with  the  Samnites,  and  now  received  powerful  Sam- 
nite garrisons.  Publilius  encamped  between  the  cities ;  and  as  he 
did  not  succeed  in  taking  them  before  his  year  of  office  expired,  he 
was  continued  in  the  command  with  the  title  of  Proconsul,  the  first 
time  that  this  office  was  created.  At  the  beginning  of  the  follow- 
ing year  Palrcopolis  was  taken ;  and  Neapolis  only  escaped  the 

*  According  to  the  Human  expression,  the  Jus  Connubii  and  Jus  Commercii 
were  forbidden. 


B.C.  326-304.        SECOND  SAMNITE  WAR  57 

same  fate  by  concluding  an  alliance  with  the  Romans.  Meanv  hile 
the  Ilomans  had  declared  war  against  the  Samnites. 

SECOND  OR  GREAT  SAMNITE  WAR,  B.C.  326-304. — The  Second 
Samnite  War  lasted  22  years,  and  was  by  far  the  most  important 
of  the  three  wars  which  this  people  waged  with  Rome.  During 
the  first  five  years  (B.C.  326-322)  the  Roman  arms  were  generally 
successful.  The  Samnites  became  so  disheartened  that  they  sued 
for  peace,  but  obtained  only  a  truce  for  a  year.  It  was  during  this 
period  that  the  well-known  quarrel  took  place  between  L.  Papirius 
Cursor  and  Q.  Fabius  Maximus,  the  two  most  celebrated  Roman 
generals  of  the  time,  who  constantly  led  the  armies  of  the  Republic 
to  victory.  In  B.C.  325  L.  Papirius  was  Dictator,  and  Q.  Fabius 
his  Master  of  the  Horse.  Recalled  to  Rome  by  some  defect  in  the 
auspices,  the  Dictator  left  the  army  in  charge  of  Fabius,  but  with 
strict  orders  not  to  venture  upon  an  engagement.  Compelled  or 
provoked  by  the  growing  boldness  of  the  enemy,  Fabius  attacked 
and  defeated  them  with  great  loss.  But  this  victory  was  no  exten- 
uation for  his  offense  in  the  eyes  of  the  Dictator.  Papirius  has- 
tened back  to  the  camp,  burning  with  indignation  that  his  com- 
mands had  been  disobeyed,  and  ordered  his  lictors  to  seize  Fabius 
and  put  him  to  death.  The  soldiers,  whom  Fabius  had  led  to  vic- 
tory, rose  in  his  defense ;  and  in  the  night  he  escaped  to  Rome,  to 
implore  the  protection  of  the  Senate.  He  was  stating  the  case  to 
the  Fathers,  when  Papirius  entered  the  senate-house,  followed  by 
his  lictors,  and  demanded  that  the  offender  should  be  given  up  for 
execution.  But  the  Senate,  the  people,  and  the  aged  father  of  Max- 
imus interceded  so  strongly  for  his  life,  that  the  Dictator  was  obliged 
to  give  way  and  to  grant  an  ungracious  pardon. 

The  year's  truce  had  not  expired  when  the  Samnites  again  took 
up  arms,  and  for  the  next  seven  years  (B.C.  321-315)  the  balance 
of  success  inclined  to  their  side.  This  appears  to  have  been  mainly 
owing  to  the  military  abilities  of  their  general  C.  Pontius,  who  de- 
serves to  be  ranked  among  the  chief  men  of  antiquity.  In  the  first 
year  of  his  command  he  inflicted  upon  the  Romans  one  of  the  sever- 
est blows  they  ever  sustained  in  the  whole  course  of  their  history. 

In  B.C.  321  the  two  Consuls,  T.  Veturius  and  Sp.  Postumius, 
marched  into  Samnium  by  the  road  from  Capua  to  Beneventum. 
Near  the  town  of  Caudium  they  entered  the  celebrated  pass  called 
the  CAUDISB  FORKS  (Furculse  Caudinae).  It  consisted  of  two  nar, 
row  defiles  or  gorges,  between  which  was  a  tolerably  spacious  plain, 
but  shut  in  on  each  side  by  mountains.  The  Romans,  thinking  the 
Samnites  to  be  far  distant,  had  marched  through  the  first  pass  and 
the  plain ;  but  when  they  came  to  the  second  they  found  it  blocked 
up  by  works  and  trunks  of  trees,  so  as  to  be  quite  impassable. 


58  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  VIII. 

Retracing  their  steps  to  the  pass  by  which  they  had  entered,  they 
found  that  the  enemy  had  meantime  taken  possession  of  this  also. 
They  were  thus  blocked  up  at  either  end,  and,  after  making  vain 
attempts  to  force  their  way  through,  were  obliged  to  surrender  at 
discretion.  Thus  both  Consuls  and  four  legions  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Samnites.  C.  Pontius  made  a  merciful  use  of  his  victory. 
He  agreed  to  dismiss  them  in  safety  upon  their  promising  to  restore 
the  ancient  alliance  on  equal  terms  between  the  two  nations,  and 
to  give  up  all  the  places  which  they  had  conquered  during  the  war. 
The  Consuls  and  the  other  superior  officers  swore  to  these  terms  in 
the  name  of  the  Republic,  and  six  hundred  Roman  knights  were 
given  as  hostages.  The  whole  Roman  army  was  now  allowed  to 
depart,  and  each  Roman  soldier  marched  out  singly  under  the 
yoke. 

When  the  news  of  this  disaster  reached  Rome  the  Senate  refused 
to  ratify  the  peace,  and  resolved  that  the  two  Consuls  and  all  the 
officers  who  had  sworn  to  the  peace  should  be  delivered  up  to  the 
Samnites  as  persons  who  had  deceived  them.  They  were  conduct- 
ed to  Caudium  by  a  Fetialis ;  and  when  they  appeared  before  the 
tribunal  of  C.  Pontius,  Postumius,  with  superstitious  folly,  struck 
the  Fetialis  with  his  foot,  saying  that  he  was  now  a  Samnite  citizen, 
and  that  war  might  be  renewed  with  justice  by  the  Romans,  since 
a  Samnite  had  insulted  the  sacred  envoy  of  the  Roman  people. 
But  Pontius  refused  to  accept  the  persons  who  were  thus  offered, 
and  told  them,  if  they  wished  to  nullify  the  treaty,  to  send  back  the 
army  to  the  Caudine  Forks.  Thus  Postumius  and  his  companions 
returned  to  Rome,  and  the  GOO  knights  were  alone  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  Samnites. 

The  disaster  of  Caudium  shook  the  fate  of  many  of  the  Roman 
nllies,  and  the  fortune  of  Avar  was  for  some  years  in  favor  of  the 
Samnites.  But  in  B.C.  314  the  tide  of  success  again  turned,  and 
the  decisive  victory  of  the  Consuls  in  that  year  opened  the  way  into 
the  heart  of  Samnium.  From  this  time  the  Romans  were  uniform- 
ly successful ;  and  it  seemed  probable  that  the  war  was  drawing  to 
a  close,  when  the  Etruscans  created  a  powerful  diversion  by  de- 
claring war  against  Rome  in  B.C.  311.  But  the  energy  and  abili- 
ty of  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  averted  this  new  danger.  He  boldly  car- 
ried the  war  into  the  very  heart  of  Etruria,  and  gained  a  decisive 
victory  over  the  forces  of  the  League.  The  Samnites  also  were  re- 
peatedly defeated  ;  and  afier  the  capture  of  Bovianum,  the  chief 
city  of  the  Pentri,  they  were  compelled  to  sue  for  peace.  It  was 
granted  them  in  it.c.  304,  on  condition  of  their  acknowledging  the 
supremacy  of  Rome. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Second  Samnite  War  the  -/Equians  and 


B.C.  298-290.         THIRD  SAMNITE  WAK.  59 

Hernicans  were  reduced  to  subjection  after  a  brief  struggle.  A 
part  of  the  JEquian  territory  was  incorporated  in  that  of  Home  by 
the  addition  of  two  new  tribes,  and  two  colonies  were  planted  in  the 
other  portion.  The  Marsi,  Marrucini,  Peligni,  and  other  nations 
of  Central  Italy,  entered  into  a  league  with  the  Romans  on  equal 
terms.  Thus,  in  n.c.  300,  the  power  of  Rome  seemed  firmlv  estab- 
lished in  Central  Italy.  But  this  very  power  awakened  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  surrounding  nations,  and  the  Sanmites  exerted  them- 
selves to  form  a  new  and  formidable  coalition.  The  Etruscans  and 
Umbrians  agreed  to  make  war  against  Rome,  and  called  in  the  as- 
sistance of  the  Senonian  Gauls. 

THIRD  SAMNITE  WAR,  B.C.  298-290. — As  soon  as  the  Etruscans 
and  Umbrians  were  engaged  with  Rome,  the  Samnites  invaded  Lu- 
cania.  The  Lucanians  invoked  the  assistance  of  the  Romans,  who 
forthwith  declared  war  against  the  Samnites.  The  Republic  had 
now  to  contend  at  one  and  the  same  time  against  the  Etruscans, 
Umbrians,  Gauls,  and  Samnites;  but  she  carried  on  the  struggle 
with  the  utmost  energy,  attacking  the  Etruscans,  Umbrians,  and 
Gauls  in  the  north,  and  the  Samnites  in  the  south.  At  length,  in 
B.C.  295,  the  Samnites  joined  their  confederates  in  Umbria.  In 
this  country,  near  the  town  of  Sentinum,  a  desperate  battle  was 
fought,  which  decided  the  fortune  of  the  war.  The  two  Roman 
Consuls  were  the  aged  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  and  P.  Decius  Mus. 
The  victory  was  long  doubtful.  The  wing  commanded  by  Decius 
was  giving  way  before  the  terrible  onset  of  the  Gauls,  when  he  de- 
termined to  imitate  the  example  of  his  father,  and  to  devote  him- 
self and  the  enemy  to  destruction.  His  death  gave  fresh  courage 
to  his  men,  and  Fabius  gained  a  complete  and  decisive  victory. 
Gellius  Egnatius,  the  Samnite  general,  who  had  taken  the  most 
active  part  in  forming  the  coalition,  was  slain.  But,  though  the 
League  was  thus  broken  up,  the  Samnites  continued  the  struggle 
for  five  years  longer.  During  this  period  C.  Pontius,  who  had  de- 
feated the  Romans  at  the  Caudine  Forks,  again  appeared,  after 
twenty-seven  years,  as  the  leader  of  the  Samnites,  but  was  defeat- 
ed by  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  with  great  loss  and  taken  prisoner.  Be- 
ing carried  to  Rome,  he  was  put  to  death  as  the  triumphal  car  of 
the  victor  ascended  the  Capitol  (B.C.  292).  This  shameful  act  has 
been  justly  branded  as  one  of  the  greatest  stains  on  the  Roman  an- 
nals. Two  years  afterward  the  Samnites  were  unable  to  continue 
any  longer  the  hopeless  struggle,  and  became  the  subjects  of  Rome. 
The  third  and  last  Samnite  war  was  brought  to  a  close  in  B.C.  290. 


Coin  of  Pyrrhus. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

FROM   THE    CONCLUSION   OF   THE    SAHNITE   WAR   TO   THE    SUBJUGA- 
TION  OF   ITALY.       B.C.  290-265. 

TEN  years  elapsed  from  the  conclusion  of  the  third  Samnite  war 
to  the  arrival  of  Pyrrhus  in  Italy.  During  this  time  the  Etruscans 
and  Gauls  renewed  the  war  in  the  north,,  but  were  defeated  with 
great  slaughter  near  the  Lake  Vadimo.  This  decisive  battle  ap- 
'  pears  to  have  completely  crushed  the  Etruscan  power;  and  it  in- 
flicted so  severe  a  blow  upon  the  Gauls  that  we  hear  no  more  of 
their  ravages  for  the  next  sixty  years. 

In  the  south  the  Lucanians  also  rose  against  Rome.  The  exten- 
sion of  the  Roman  dominion  in  the  south  of  the  peninsula  had 
brought  the  state  into  connection  with  the  Greek  cities,  which  at 
one  period  were  so  numerous  and  powerful  as  to  give  to  this  part 
of  Italy  the  name  of  Magna  Grsecia.*  Many  of  these  cities  had 
now  fallen  into  decay  through  internal  dissensions  and  the  con- 
quests of  the  Lucanians  and  other  Sabellian  tribes ;  but  Tarentum, 
originally  a  Lacedaemonian  colony,  still  maintained  her  former  pow- 
er and  splendor.  The  Tarentines  naturally  regarded  with  extreme 
jealousy  the  progress  of  the  Roman  arms  in  the  south  of  Italy,  and 
had  secretly  instigated  the  Etruscans  and  Lucaiiians  to  form  a  new 
coalition  against  Rome.  But  the  immediate  cause  of  the  war  be- 
tween the  Lucanians  and  Romans  was  the  assistance  which  the 
latter  had  rendered  to  the  Greek  city  of  Thurii.  Being  attacked 
by  the  Lucanians,  the  Thurians  applied  to  Rome  for  aid,  aud  the 
Consul  C.  Fabricius  not  only  relieved  Thurii,  but  defeated  the  Lu- 
canians and  their  allies  in  several  engagements  (B.C.  282).  Upon 
the  departure  of  Fabricius  a  Roman  garrison  was  left  in  Thurii. 
The  only  mode  now  of  maintaining  communication  between  Rome 
and  Thurii  was  by  sea ;  but  this  was  virtually  forbidden  by  a  treaty 
•  See  p.  6. 


B.C.  281.  PYRRHUS.  61 

which  the  Romans  had  made  with  Tarentum  nearly  twenty  years 
before,  in  which  treaty  it  was  stipulated  that  no  Roman  ships  of 
war  should  pass  the  Lacinian  promontory.  But  circumstances 
were  now  changed,  and  the  Senate  determined  that  their  vessels 
should  no  longer  be  debarred  from  the  Gulf  of  Tarentum.  There 
was  a  small  squadron  of  ten  ships  in  those  seas  under  the  command 
of  L.  Valerius  ;  and  one  day,  when  the  Tarentines  were  assembled 
in  the  theatre,  which  looked  over  the  sea,  they  saw  the  Roman 
squadron  sailing  toward  their  harbor.  This  open  violation  of  the 
treaty  seemed  a  premeditated  insult,  and  a  demagogue  urged  the 
people  to  take  summary  vengeance.  They  rushed  down  to  the 
harbor,  quickly  manned  some  ships,  and  gained  an  easy  victory 
over  the  small  Roman  squadron.  Only  half  made  their  escape, 
four  were  sunk,  one  taken,  and  Valerius  himself  killed.  After  this 
the  Tarentines  marched  against  Thurii,  compelled  the  inhabitants 
to  dismiss  the  Roman  garrison,  and  then  plundered  the  town. 

The  Senate  sent  an  embassy  to  Tarentum  to  complain  of  these 
outrages  and  to  demand  satisfaction.  L.  Postumius,  who  was  at 
the  head  of  the  embassy,  was  introduced  with  his  colleagues  into  the 
theatre,  to  state  to  the  assembled  people  the  demands  of  the  Ro- 
man Senate.  He  began  to  address  them  in  Greek,  but  his  mis- 
takes in  the  language  were  received  with  peals  of  laughter  from  the 
thoughtless  mob.  Unable  to  obtain  a  hearing,  much  less  an  an- 
swer, Postumius  was  leaving  the  theatre,  when  a  drunken  buffoon 
rushed  up  to  him  and  sullied  his  white  robe  in  the  most  disgusting 
manner.  The  whole  theatre  rang  with  shouts  of  laughter  and 
clapping  of  hands,  which  became  louder  and  louder  when  Postu- 
mius held  tip  his  sullied  robe  and  showed  it  to  the  people.  "Laugh 
on  now,"  he  cried,  "but  this  robe  shall  be  washed  in  torrents  of 
your  blood." 

War  was  now  inevitable.  The  luxurious  Tarentines  sent  an  em- 
bassy to  Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirtis,  begging  him,  in  the  name  of  all 
the  Italian  Greeks,  to  cross  over  into  Italy  in  order  to  conduct  the 
war  against  the  Romans.  They  told  him  that  they  only  wanted  a 
general,  and  that  all  the  nations  of  Southern  Italy  would  flock  to 
his  standard.  Pyrrhus  needed  no  persuasion  to  engage  in  an  en- 
terprise which  realized  the  earliest  dreams  of  his  ambition.  The 
conquest  of  Italy  would  naturally  lead  to  the  sovereignty  of  Sicily 
and  Africa,  and  he  would  then  be  able  to  return  to  Greece  with 
the  united  forces  of  the  West  to  overcome  his  rivals  and  reign  as 
master  of  the  world.  But  as  he  would  not  trust  the  success  of  his 
enterprise  to  the  valor  and  fidelity  of  Italian  troops,  he  began  to 
make  preparations  to  carry  over  a  powerful  army.  Meantime  he 
sent  Milo,  one  of  his  generals,  with  a  detachment  of  3000  men,  to 


62  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  IX. 

garrison  the  citadel  of  Tarentum.  Pyrrhus  himself  crossed  over 
from  Epirus  toward  the  end  of  B.C.  281,  taking  with  him  20,000 
foot,  3000  horse,  and  20  elephants. 

Upon  reaching  Tarentum  he  began  to  make  preparations  to 
carry  on  the  war  with  activity.  The  Tarentines  soon  found  they 
had  obtained  a  master  rather  than  an  ally.  He  shut  up  the  thea- 
tre and  all  other  public  places,  and  compelled  their  young  men  to 
serve  in  his  ranks.  Notwithstanding  all  his  activity,  the  Romans 
were  first  in  the  field.  The  Consul  M.Valerius  Ljevinus  marched 
into  Lucania;  but  as  the  army  of  Pyrrhus  was  inferior  to  that  of 
the  Romans,  he  attempted  to  gain  time  by  negotiation  in  order  that 
he  might  be  joined  by  his  Italian  allies.  He  accordingly  wrote  to 
the  Consul,  offering  to  arbitrate  between  Rome  and  the  Italian 
states ;  but  Lsevinus  bluntly  told  him  to  mind  his  own  business  and 
retire  to  Epirus.  Fearing  to  remain  inactive  any  longer,  although 
he  was  not  yet  joined  by  his  allies,  Pyrrhns  marched  out  against  the 
Romans  with  his  own  troops  and  the  Tarentines.  He  took  up  his 
position  between  the  towns  of  Pandosia  and  Heraclea,  on  the  River 
Siris.  The  Romans,  who  were  encamped  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river,  were  the  first  to  begin  the  battle.  They  crossed  the  river, 
and  were  immediately  attacked  by  the  cavalry  of  Pyrrhus,  who  led 
them  to  the  charge  in  person,  and  distinguished  himself  as  usual 
by  the  most  daring  acts  of  valor.  The  Romans,  however,  bravely 
sustained  the  attack ;  and  Pyrrhus,  finding  that  his  cavalry  could 
not  decide  the  day,  ordered  his  infantry  to  advance.  The  battle 
was  still  contested  most  furiously :  seven  times  did  both  armies  ad- 
vance and  retreat ;  and  it  was  not  till  Pyrrhus  brought  forward  his 
elephants,  which  bore  down  every  thing  before  them,  that  the  Ro- 
mans took  to  flight,  leaving  their  camp  to  the  conqueror  (B.C.  280). 

This  battle  taught  Pyrrhus  the  difficulty  of  the  enterprise  he  had 
undertaken.  Before  the  engagement,  when  he  saw  the  Romans 
forming  their  line  as  they  crossed  the  river,  he  said  to  his  officers, 
"  In  war,  at  any  rate,  these  barbarians  are  not  barbarous ;"  and  aft- 
erward, as  he  saw  the  Roman  dead  lying  upon  the  field  with  all 
their  wounds  in  front,  he  exclaimed,  "If  these  were  my  soldiers, 
or  if  I  were  their  general,  we  should  conquer  the  world."  And, 
though  his  loss  had  been  inferior  to  that  of  the  Romans,  still  so 
large  a  number  of  his  officers  and  best  troops  had  fallen,  that  he 
said,  "Another  such  victor}',  and  I  must  return  to  Epirus  alone." 
He  therefore  resolved  to  avail  himself  of  this  victory  to  conclude, 
if  possible,  an  advantageous  peace.  He  sent  his  minister  Cineas  to 
Rome  with  the  proposal  that  the  Romans  should  recognize  the  in- 
dependence of  the  Greeks  in  Italy,  restore  to  the  Samnites,  Luca- 
nians,  Apulians,  and  Bruttians  all  the  possessions  which  they  had 


B.C.  280.     EMBASSY  TO  PYHRIIUS.— FABRICIUS.          63 

lost  in  war,  and  make  peace  with  himself  and  the  Tarentines.  As 
soon  as  peace  was  concluded  on  these  terms  he  promised  to  return 
all  the  Roman  prisoners  without  ransom.  Cineas,  whose  persua- 
sive eloquence  was  said  to  have  won  more  towns  for  1'yrrl  -.;s  than 
his  arms,  neglected  no  means  to  induce  the  Romans  to  accept  these 
terms.  The  prospects  of  the  Republic  seemed  so  dark  and  threat- 
ening that  many  members  of  the  Senate  thought  it  would  be  more 
prudent  to  comply  with  the  demands  of  the  king  ;  and  this  party 
would  probably  have  carried  the  day  had  it  not  been  for  the  patri- 
otic speech  of  the  aged  Ap.  Claudius  Caecus,  who  denounced  the 
idea  of  a  peace  with  a  victorious  foe  with  such  effect  that  the  Sen- 
ate declined  the  proposals  of  the  king,  and  commanded  Cineas  to 
quit  Rome  the  samo  day. 

Cineas  returned  to  Pyrrhus,  and  told  him  he  must  hope  for  noth- 
ing from  negotiation  ;  that  the  city  was  like  a  temple  of  the  gods, 
and  the  Senate  an  assembly  of  kings.  Pyrrhus  now  advanced  by 
rapid  marches  toward  Rome,  ravaging  the  country  as  he  went  along, 
and  without  encountering  any  serious  opposition.  He  at  length 
arrived  at  Prseneste,  whicli  fell  into  his  hands.  He  was  now  only 
24  miles  from  Rome,  and  his  outposts  advanced  six  miles  farther. 
Another  march  would  have  brought  him  under  the  walls  of  the 
city ;  but  at  this  moment  he  learned  that  peace  was  concluded 
with  the  Etruscans,  and  that  the  other  Consul  had  returned  with 
his  army  to  Rome.  All  hope  of  compelling  the  Romans  to  accept 
the  peace  was  now  gone,  and  he  therefore  resolved  to  retreat.  He 
retired  slowly  into  Campania,  and  from  thence  withdrew  into  win- 
ter quarters  to  Tarentnm. 

As  soon  as  the  armies  were  quartered  for  the  winter,  the  Romans 
sent  an  embassy  to  Pyrrhus  to  negotiate  the  ransom  or  exchange 
of  prisoners.  The  embassadors  were  received  by  Pyrrhus  in  the 
most  distinguished  manner;  and  his  interviews  with  C.Fabricius, 
who  was  at  the  head  of  the  embassy,  form  one  of  the  most  famous 
stories  in  Roman  history.  Fabricius  was  a  fine  specimen  of  tho 
sturdy  Roman  character.  He  cultivated  his  farm  with  his  own 
hands,  and,  like  his  contemporary  Curius,  was  celebrated  for  his  in- 
corruptible integrity.  The  king  attempted  in  vain  to  work  upon 
his  cupidity  and  his  fears.  He  steadily  refused  the  large  sums  of 
money  offered  by  Pyrrhus;  and  when  an  elephant,  concealed  be- 
hind him  by  a  curtain,  waved  his  trunk  over  his  head,  Fabricius  re- 
mained unmoved.  Such  respect  did  his  conduct  inspire,  that  Pyr- 
rhus attempted  to  persuade  him  to  enter  into  his  service  and  accom- 
pany him  to  Greece.  The  object  of  the  embassy  failed.  The  king 
refused  to  exchange  the  prisoners ;  but,  to  show  them  his  trust  in 
their  honor,  he  allowed  them  to  go  to  Rome  in  order  to  celebrate  the 


64  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  IX 

Saturnalia,  stipulating  that  they  were  to  return  to  Tarentum  if  the 
Senate  would  not  accept  the  terms  which  he  had  previously  offered 
through  Cineas.  The  Senate  remained  firm  in  their  resolve,  and 
i.ll  the  prisoners  returned  to  Pyrrhus,  the  punishment  of  death  hav- 
ing been  denounced  against  those  who  should  remain  in  the  city. 

In  the  following  year  (B.C.  279)  the  war  was  renewed,  and  a  bat- 
tle was  fought  near  Asculum.  The  Romans  fled  to  their  camp, 
which  was  so  near  to  the  field  of  battle  that  not  more  than  6000 
fell,  while  Pyrrhus  lost  more  than  half  this  number.  The  victory 
yielded  Pyrrhus  little  or  no  advantage,  and  he  was  obliged  to  retire 
to  Tarentum  for  the  winter  without  effecting  any  thing  more  during 
the  campaign.  In  the  last  battle,  as  well  as  in  the  former,  the 
brunt  of  the  action  had  fallen  almost  exclusively  upon  his  Greek 
troops;  and  the  state  of  Greece,  which  this  year  was  overrun  by 
the  Gauls,  made  it  hopeless  for  him  to  expect  any  re-enforcements 
from  Epirus.  He  was  therefore  unwilling  to  hazard  his  surviving 
Greeks  by  another  campaign  with  the  Romans,  and  accordingly  lent 
a  ready  ear  to  the  invitations  of  the  Greeks  in  Sicily,  who  bepged 
him  to  come  to  their  assistance  against  the  Carthaginians.  It  was 
necessary,  however,  first  to  suspend  hostilities  with  the  Romans, 
who  were  likewise  anxious  to  get  rid  of  so  formidable  an  opponent, 
that  they  might  complete  the  subjugation  of  Southern  Italy  without 
farther  interruption.  When  both  parties  had  the  same  wishes  it 
vas  not  difficult  to  find  a  fair  pretext  for  bringing  the  war  to  a  con- 
clusion. This  was  afforded  at  the  beginning  of  the  following  year 
(K.C.  278)  by  one  of  the  servants  of  Pyrrhus  deserting  to  the  Ro- 
mans, and  proposing  to  the  Consuls  to  poison  his  master.  They 
sent  back  the  deserter  to  the  king,  saying  that  they  abhorred  a  vk- 
tory  gained  by  treason.  Thereupon  Pyrrhus,  to  show  his  gratitude, 
gent  Cineas  to  Rome  with  all  the  Roman  prisoners,  without  ransom 
and  without  conditions  ;  and  the  Romans  granted  him  a  truce. 

Leaving  Milo  with  part  of  his  troops  in  possession  of  Tarentum, 
Pyrrhus  now  crossed  over  into  Sicily.  He  remained  there  upward 
of  two  years.  At  first  he  met  with  brilliant  success,  and  deprived 
the  Carthaginians  of  a  great  part  of  the  island.  Subsequently, 
however,  he  received  a  severe  repulse  in  an  attempt  which  he  made 
upon  the  impregnable  town  of  Lilybasum.  The  fickle  Greeks  now 
began  to  form  cabals  and  plots  against  him.  This  led  to  retalia- 
tion on  his  part,  and  he  soon  became  as  anxious  to  abandon  the  isl- 
and as  he  had  been  before  to  leave  Italy.  Accordingly,  when  his 
Italian  allies  again  begged  him  to  come  to  their  assistance,  he  read- 
ily  complied  with  their  request,  and  arrived  in  Italy  in  the  autumn 
of  n.c.  276.  His  troops  were  now  almost  the  same  in  number  as 
when  he  first  landed  in  Italy,  but  very  different  in  quality.  The 


B.C.  274.    DEPARTURE  OF  PYRRHUS  FROM  ITALY.    65 

faithful  Epirots  had  for  the  most  part  fallen,  and  his  present  soldiers 
consisted  chiefly  of  mercenaries,  whom  he  had  levied  in  Italy.  One 
of  his  first  operations  was  the  recovery  of  Locri,  which  had  revolt- 
ed to  the  Romans ;  and  as  he  here  found  himself  in  great  difficul- 
ties for  want  of  money  to  pay  his  troops,  he  was  induced  to  take 
possession  of  the  treasures  of  the  Temple  of  Proserpine  in  that 
town ;  but  the  ships  conveying  the  money  were  wrecked.  This; 
circumstance  deeply  affected  the  mind  of  Pyrrhus ;  he  ordered  the 
treasures  which  were  saved  to  be  restored  to  the  temple,  and  from 
this  time  became  haunted  by  the  idea  that  the  wrath  of  Proserpine 
was  pursuing  him,  and  dragging  him  down  to  ruin. 

The  following  year  (B.C.  274)  closed  the  career  of  Pyrrhus  in 
Italy.  The  Consul  M'.  Curius  marched  into  Samnium,  and  his 
colleague  into  Lucania.  Pyrrhus  advanced  against  Curius,  who 
was  encamped  in  the  neighborhood  of  Beneventum,  and  resolved  to 
fight  with  him  before  he  was  joined  by  his  colleague.  As  Curius 
did  not  wish  to  risk  a  battle  with  his  own  army  alone,  Pyrrhus 
planned  a  night-attack  upon  his  camp.  But  he  miscalculated  the 
time  and  the  distance ;  the  torches  burnt  out,  the  men  missed  their 
way,  and  it  was  already  broad  daylight  when  he  reached  the  heights 
above  the  Roman  camp.  Still  their  arrival  was  quite  unexpected ; 
but,  as  a  battle  was  now  inevitable,  Curius  led  out  his  men.  The 
troops  of  Pyrrhus,  exhausted  by  fatigue,  were  easily  put  to  the  rout; 
two  elephants  were  killed  and  eight  more  taken.  Encouraged  by 
this  success,  Curius  no  longer  hesitated  to  meet  the  king  in  the 
open  plain,  and  gained  a  decisive  victory.  Pyrrhus  arrived  at  Ta- 
rentum  with  only  a  few  horsemen.  Shortly  afterward  he  crossed 
over  to  Greece,  leaving  Milo  with  a  garrison  at  Tarentum.  Two 
years  afterward  he  perished  in  an  attack  upon  Argos,  ingloriously 
slain  by  a  tile  hurled  by  a  woman  from  the  roof  of  a  house. 

The  departure  of  Pyrrhus  left  the  Lucanians  and  other  Italian 
tribes  exposed  10  the  full  power  of  Rome.  They  nevertheless  con- 
tinued the  hopeless  struggle  a  little  longer;  but  in  B.C.  272  Ta- 
rentum fell  into  the  hands  of  Rome,  and  in  a  few  years  afterward 
every  nation  in  Italy,  to  the  south  of  the  Macra  and  the  Rubicon, 
owned  the  supremacy  of  Rome.  She  had  now  become  one  of  the 
first  powers  in  the  ancient  world.  The  defeat  of  Pyrrhus  attract- 
ed the  attention  of  the  nations  of  the  East;  and  in  B.C.  273,  Ptol- 
emy Philadelphus,  king  of  Egypt,  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome,  and 
concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Republic. 

~£    The  dominion  which  Rome  had  acquired  by  her  arms  was  con- 
firmed by  her  policy.     She  pursued  the  same  system  which  she 
had  adopted  upon  the  subjugation  of  Latiurn,  keeping  the  cities  iso- 
lated from  one  another,  but  at  the  same  time  allowing  them  to 
E 


CG  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CUAP.  IX. 

manage  their  own  affairs.     The  population  of  Italy  was  divided 
into  three  classes.  Clves  Romani,  Nomcn  Lalinum,  and  Socii. 

I.  GIVES  ROMANI,  or  ROMAN  CITIZENS. — These  consisted:  (I.) 
Of  the  citizens  of  the  thirty-three  Tribes  into  which  the  Roman 
territory  was  now  divided,  and  which  extended  north  of  the  Tiber 
a  little  beyond  Veii,  and  southward  as  far  as  the  Liris  ;  though  even 
in  this  district  there  were  some  towns,  such  as  Tibur  and  Praeneste', 
which  did  not  possess  the  Roman  franchise.     (2.)  Of  the  citizens 
of  Roman  colonies  planted  in  different  parts  of  Italy.     (3.)  Of  the 
citizens  of  municipal  towns  upon  whom  the  Roman  franchise  was 
conferred.     In  some  cases  the  Roman  franchise  was  granted  with- 
out the  right  of  voting  in  the  Comitia  (civitas  sine  suffrayio),  but 
in  course  of  time  this  right  also  was  generally  conceded. 

II.  NOMEN  LATINUM,  or  the  LATIN  NAME. — This  term  was  ap- 
plied to  the  colonies  founded  by  Rome  which  did  not  enjoy  the 
rights  of  Roman  citizenship,  and  which  stood  in  the  same  position 
with  regard  to  the  Roman  state  as  had  been  formerly  occupied  by 
the  cities  of  the  Latin  League.     The  name  originated  at  a  period 
when  colonies  were  actually  sent  out  in  common  by  the  Romans 
and  Latins,  but  similar  colonies  continued  to  be  founded  by  the 
Romans  alone  long  after  the  extinction  of  the  Latin  League.     In 
fact,  the  majority  of  the  colonies  planted  by  Rome  were  of  this  kind, 
the  Roman  citizens  who  took  part  in  them  voluntarily  resigning 
their  citizenship,  in  consideration  of  the  grants  of  land  which  they 
obtained.     But  the  citizen  of  any  Latin  colony  might  emigrate  to 
Rome,  and  be  enrolled  in  one  of  the  Roman  tribes,  provided  he  had 
held  a  magistracy  in  his  native  town.     These  Latin  colonies — the 
Nomen  Latinum — were  some  of  the  most  flourishing  towns  in  Italy. 

III.  Socii,  or  ALLIES,  included  the  rest  of  Italy.     Each  of  the 
towns  which  had  been  conquered  by  Rome  had  formed  a  treaty 
(fvedus)  with  the  latter,  which  determined  their  rights  and  duties. 
These  treaties  were  of  various  kinds,  some  securing  nominal  inde- 
pendence to  the  towns,  and  others  reducing  them  to  absolute  sub- 
jection. 

The  political  changes  in  Rome  itself,  from  the  time  of  the  Latin 
wars,  have  been  already  in  great  part  anticipated.  Appius  Clau- 
dius, afterward  named  Csecus,  or  the  Blind,  introduced  a  danger- 
ous innovation  in  the  constitution  during  the  Second  Samnite  War. 
Slavery  existed  at  Rome,  as  among  the  other  nations  of  antiquity ; 
and  as  many  slaves,  from  various  causes,  acquired  their  liberty, 
there  gradually  sprung  up  at  Rome  a  large  and  indigent  popula- 
tion of  servile  origin.  These  Freedmen  were  Roman  citizens,  but 
they  could  only  be  enrolled  in  the  four  city-tribes,  so  that,  however 
numerous  they  might  become,  they  could  influence  only  the  votes 


B.C.  312.    CENSORSHIP  OF  APPIUS  CLAUDIUS. 


G7 


of  four  tribes.  Appius  Claudius,  in  his  Censorship  (B.C.  312),  when 
making  out  the  lists  of  citizens,  allowed  the  Freedmen  to  enroll 
themselves  in  any  tribe  they  pleased ;  but  this  dangerous  innova- 
tion was  abolished  by  the  Censors  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  and  P.  De- 
cius  Mus  (n.c.  304),  who  restored  all  the  Freedmen  to  the  four  city- 
tribes.  The  Censorship  of  Appius  is,  however,  memorable  for  the 
great  public  works  which  he  executed.  He  made  the  great  mili- 
tary road  called  the  Appian  Way  (Via  Appia),  leading  from  Rome 
to  Capua,  a  distance  of  120  miles,  which  long  afterward  was  con- 
tinued across  the  Apennines  to  Brundusium.  He  also  executed 
the  first  of  the  great  aqueducts  (Aqua  Appia)  which  supplied  Rome 
with  such  an  abundance  of  water. 

Cn.  Flavius,  the  son  of  a  Freedman,  and  Secretary  to  Appius 
Claudius,  divulged  the  forms  and  times  to  be  observed  in  legal  pro- 
ceedings. These  the  Patricians  had  hitherto  kept  secret;  they 
alone  knew  the  days  when  the  courts  would  be  held,  and  the  tech- 
nical pleadings  according  to  which  all  actions  must  proceed.  But 
Flavius.  having  become  acquainted  with  these  secrets,  by  means  of 
his  patron,  published  in  a  book  a  list  of  the  formularies  to  be  ob- 
served in  the  several  kinds  of  actions,  and  also  set  up  in  the  forum 
a  whited  tablet  containing  a  list  of  all  the  days  on  which  the  courts 
could  be  held.  In  spite  of  his  ignominious  birth,  he  was  made  a 
Senator  by  Appius  Claudius,  and  was  elected  Curule  .ZEdile  by  the 
people. 


Temple  of  Vesta.    (From  a  Coin.) 


Mount  Ercta  in  Sicily. 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  FIRST  PUNIC   WAK.       B.C.  264-241. 

ROME,  now  mistress  of  Italy,  entered  upon  a  long  and  arduous 
struggle  with  Carthage,  which  ruled  without  a  rival  the  western 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean.  This  great  and  powerful  city  was 
founded  by  the  Phoenicians*  of  Tyre  in  B.C.  814,  according  to  the 
common  chronology.  Its  inhabitants  were  consequently  a  branch 
of  the  Semitic  race,  to  which  the  Hebrews  also  belonged.  Carthage 
rose  to  greatness  by  her  commerce,  and  gradually  extended  her  em- 
pire over  the  whole  of  the  north  of  Africa,  from  the  Straits  of  Her- 
cules to  the  borders  of  Cyrene.  Her  Libyan  subjects  she  treated 
with  extreme  harshness,  and  hence  they  were  always  ready  to  re- 
volt against  her  so  soon  as  a  foreign  enemy  appeared  upon  her  soil. 

The  two  chief  magistrates  at  Carthage  were-elected  annually  out 
of  a  few  of  the  chief  families,  and  were  called  Suffetes.^  There  was 
a  Senate  of  Three  Hundred  members,  and  also  a  smaller  Council 
of  One  Hundred,  of  which  the  latter  were  the  most  powerful,  hold- 
ing office  for  life,  and  exercising  an  almost  sovereign  sway  over  the 
other  authorities  in  the  state.  The  government  was  a  complete  oli- 
garchy ;  and  a  few  old,  rich,  and  powerful  families  divided  among 
themselves  the  influence  and  power  of  the  state.  These  great  fam- 
ilies were  often  opposed  to  each  other  in  bitter  feuds,  but  concurred 
in  treating  with  contempt  the  mass  of  the  people. 

In  her  foreign  wars  Carthage  depended  upon  mercenary  troops,» 
which  her  great  wealth  enabled  her  to  procure  in  abundance  from 
Spain,  Italy,  and  Greece,  as  well  as  from  Libya.  Sardinia  and 
Corsica  were  among  her  earliest  conquests,  and  Sicily  was  also  one 

*  The  Phoenicians  were  called  by  the  Latins  Pceni,  whence  the  adjective  jnif 
?»'ctwt,  like  munirc  from  mrvnifi^  and  punire  from  pocna. 
t  Probably  the  same  as  the  Hebrew  Shofetim,  i.  c.,  Judges. 


B.C.  264-241.       THE  FIRST  TUNIC  WAI*.  69 

of  the  first  objects  of  her  military  enterprise.  The  Phoenician  col- 
onies in  this  island  came  under  her  dominion  as  the  power  of  Tyre 
declined ;  nnd  having  thus  obtained  a  firm  footing  in  Sicily,  she 
carried  on  a  long  struggle  for  the  supremacy  with  the  Greek  cities. 
It  was  here  that  she  came  into  contact  with  the  Roman  arms.  The 
relations  of  Rome  and  Carthage  had  hitherto  been  peaceful,  and 
a  treaty,  concluded  between  the  two  states  in  the  first  years  of  the 
Roman  republic,  had  been  renewed  more  than  once.  But  the  ex- 
tension of  Roman  dominion  had  excited  the  jealousy  of  Carthage, 
and  Rome  began  to  turn  longing  eyes  to  the  fair  island  at  the  foot 
of  her  empire.  It  was  evident  that  a  struggle  was  not  far  distant, 
and  Pyrrhus  could  not  help  exclaiming,  as  he  quitted  Sicily,  "How 
fine  a  battle-field  are  we  leaving  to  the  Romans  and  Carthaginians !" 
The  city  of  Messana,  situated  on  the  straits  which  divide  Sicily 
from  Italy,  was  occupied  at  this  time  by  the  Mamertini.  They 
were  a  body  of  Campanian  mercenaries,  chiefly  of  Sabellian  origin, 
who  had  served  under  Agathocles,  and  after  the  death  of  that  ty- 
rant (B.C.  289)  were  marched  to  Messana,  in  order  to  be  transport- 
ed to  Italy.  Being  hospitably  received  within  the  city,  they  sud- 
denly rose  against  the  inhabitants,  massacred  the  male  population, 
and  made  themselves  masters  of  their  wives  and  property;  They 
now  took  the  name  of  Mamertini,  or  "Children  of  Mars,"  from 
Mamers,  a  Sabellian  name  for  that  deity.  They  rapidly  extended 
their  power  over  a  considerable  portion  of  the  north  of  Sicily,  and 
were  formidable  enemies  to  Syracuse.  Hiero,  having  become  king 
of  Syracuse,  determined  to  destroy  this  nest  of  robbers,  advanced 
against  them  with  a  large  army,  defeated  them  in  battle,  and  shut 
them  up  within  Messana.  The  Mamertines  were  obliged  to  look 
out  for  help ;  one  party  wished  to  appeal  to  the  Carthaginians,  and 
the  other  to  invoke  the  assistance  of  Rome.  The  latter  ultimately 
prevailed,  and  an  embassy  was  sent  to  implore  immediate  aid .  The 
temptation  was  strong,  for  the  occupation  of  Messana  by  a  Cartha- 
ginian garrison  might  prove  dangerous  to  the  tranquillity  of  Italy. 
Still  the  Senate  hesitated ;  for  only  six  years  before  Hiero  had  as- 
sisted the  Romans  in  punishing  the  Campanian  mercenaries,  who 
ihad  seized  Rhcgium  in  the  same  way  as  the  Mamertines  had  made 
J^hemselves  masters  of  Messana.  The  voice  of  justice  prevailed, 
and  the  Senate  declined  the  proposal.  But  the  Consuls,  thirsting 
for  glory,  called  together  the  popular  assembly,  who  eagerly  voted 
that  the  Mamertines  should  be  assisted ;  in  other  words,  that  the 
Carthaginians  should  not  be  allowed  to  obtain  possession  of  Mes- 
gana.  The  Consul  App.  Claudius,  the  son  of  the  blind  Censor,  \vas 
to  lead  an  army  into  Sicily.  But  during  this  delay  the  Cartha- 
ginian party  in  Messana  had  obtained  the  ascendency,  and  Hanno, 


70  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  X. 

•with  a  Carthaginian  garrison,  had  been  admitted  into  the  citadeL 
Hiero  had  concluded  peace  with  the  Mamertines  through  the  medi- 
ation of  the  Carthaginians,  so  that  there  was  no  longer  even  a  pre- 
text for  the  interference  of  the  Romans.  But  a  legate  of  the  Con- 
sul App.  Claudius,  having  crossed  to  Sicily,  persuaded  the  Mamer- 
tines to  expel  the  Carthaginian  garrison.  Hiero  and  the  Cartha- 
ginians now  proceeded  to  lay  siege  to  Messana  by  sea  and  land,  and 
the  Romans  no  longer  hesitated  to  declare  war  against  Carthage. 
Such  was  the  commencement  of  the  first  Punic  War  (B.C.  264). 

The  Carthaginians  commanded  the  sea  with  a  powerful  fleet, 
while  the  Romans  had  no  ships  of  war  worthy  of  the  name.  But 
the  Consul  App.  Claudius,  having  contrived  to  elude  the  Cartha- 
ginian squadron,  landed  near  the  town  of  Messana,  and  defeated  in 
succession  the  forces  of  Syracuse  and  Carthage.  In  the  following 
year  (263)  the  Romans  followed  np  their  success  against  Hiero. 
The  two  Consuls  advanced  to  the  walls  of  Syracuse,  ravaging  the 
territory  of  the  city  and  capturing  many  of  its  dependent  towns. 
The  king  became  alarmed  at  the  success  of  the  Romans ;  and 
thinking  that  they  would  prove  more  powerful  than  the  Cartha- 
ginians, he  concluded  a  peace  with  Rome.  From  this  time  till  his 
death,  a  period  of  nearly  fifty  years,  Hiero  remained  the  firm  and 
steadfast  ally  of  the  Romans. 

The  Romans,  now  freed  from  the  hostility  of  Syracuse,  laid  siege 
to  Agrigentum,  the  second  of  the  Greek  cities  in  Sicily,  which  had 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  Carthaginians  at  the  commencement  of 
the  war.  The  siege  lasted  seven  months,  and  numbers  perished  on 
both  sides.  But  at  length  the  Romans  gained  a  decisive  victory 
over  the  Carthaginian  army  which  had  been  sent  to  raise  the  siege, 
and  obtained  possession  of  the  town  (B.C.  262). 

The  first  three  years  of  the  war  had  already  made  the  Romans 
masters  of  the  greater  part  of  Sicily.  But  the  coasts  of  Italy  were 
exposed  to  the  ravages  of  the  Carthaginian  fleet,  and  the  Romans 
saw  that  they  could  not  hope  to  bring  the  war  to  a  successful  term- 
ination so  long  as  Carthage  was  mistress  of  the  sea.  They  had 
only  a  small  number  of  triremes,  galleys  with  three  banks  of  oars, 
and  were  quite  unable  to  cope  with  the  quinquercmes,  or  large 
vessels  witli  five  banks  of  oars,  of  which  the  Carthaginian  navy 
consisted.  The  Senate,  with  characteristic  energy,  determined  to 
build  a  fleet  of  these  larger  vessels.  A  Carthaginian  quinquereme, 
which  had  been  wrecked  upon  the  coast  of  Italy,  served  as  a  mod- 
el ;  and  in  the  short  space  of  sixty  days  from  the  time  the  trees 
were  felled,  130  ships  were  launched.  While  the  ships  were  build- 
ing, the  rowers  were  trained  on  scaffolds  placed  upon  the  land  liko 
benches  of  ships  at  sea.  We  can  not  but  feel  astonished  at  tho 


B.C.  2G4-241.        THE  FIRST  PUNIC  WAR. 


71 


daring  of  the  Romans,  who,  with  ships  thus  hastily  and  clumsily 
built,  and  with  crews  imperfectly  trained,  sailed  to  attack  the  navy 
of  the  first  maritime  state  in  the  world.  This  was  in  the  fifth  year 
of  the  war  (B.C.  260).  One  of  the  Consuls,  Cn.  Cornelius,  first  put 
to  sea  with  only  17  ships,  but  was  surprised  near  Lipara,  and  taken 
prisoner  with  the  whole  of  his  squadron.  His  colleague,  C.  Duilius, 
now  took  the  command  of  the  rest  of  the  fleet.  He  saw  that  the 
only  means  of  conquering  the  Carthaginians  by  sea  was  to  deprive 
them  of  all  the  advantages  of  mano3uvriug,  and  to  take  their  ships 
by  boarding.  For  this  purpose, 
every  ship  was  provided  with  a 
boarding-bridge  36  feet  in  length, 
which  was  pulled  up  by  a  rope 
and  fastened  to  a  mast  in  the 
fore  part  of  the  ship.  As  soon 
as  an  enemy's  ship  came  near 
enough,  the  rope  was  loosened, 
the  bridge  fell  down,  and  became 
fastened  by  means  of  an  iron 
spike  in  its  under  side.  The 
boarders  then  poured  down  the 
bridge  into  the  enemy's  ship. 
Thus  prepared,  Duilius  boldly 
sailed  out  to  meet  the  fleet  of  the 
enemy.  He  found  them  off  the 
Sicilian  coast,  near  Mylae.  The 
Carthaginians  hastened  to  the 
fight  as  if  to  a  triumph,  but 
their  ships  were  rapidly  seized 
by  the  boarding  -  bridges,  and 
when  it  came  to  a  close  fight 
their  crews  were  no  match  for 
the  veteran  soldiers  of  Rome. 
The  victory  of  Duilius  was  com- 
plete. Thirty-one  of  the  enemy's 
ships  were  taken,  and  fourteen 
destroyed ;  the  rest  only  saved  themselves  by  an  ignominious  flight 
Oil  his  return  to  Rome,  Duilius  celebrated  a  magnificent  triumph. 
Public  honors  were  conferred  upon  him ;  he  was  to  be  escorted 
home  in  the  evening  from  banquets  by  the  light  of  torches  and  tho 
sound  of  the  flute,  and  a  column  adorned  with  the  beaks  of  tho 
conquered  ships,  and  thence  called  the  Columna  Rostrata,  was  set 
up  in  the  forum.* 

*  Tlu3  inscription  upon  this  column,  or,  at  any  rale,  a  rery  ancient  copy  of  it, 
Is  still  preserved  in  the  Capitoliue  Museum  at  Home. 


Columua  Rostrata. 


72  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  GII.U-.  X. 

For  the  next  few  years  the  war  languished,  and  nothing  of  im- 
portance was  effected  on  either  side ;  but  in  the  ninth  year  of  the 
struggle  (B.C.  256)  the  Romans  resolved  hy  strenuous  exertions  to 
bring  it  to  a  conclusion.  They  therefore  made  preparations  for 
invading  Africa  with  a  great  force.  The  two  Consuls,  M.  Atilius 
Regulus  and  L.  Manlius,  set  sail  with  330  ships,  took  the  legions 
on  board  in  Sicily,  and  then  put  out  to  sea  in  order  to  cross  over  to 
Africa.  The  Carthaginian  fleet,  consisting  of  350  ships,  met  them 
near  Ecnomus,  on  the  southern  coast  of  Sicily.  The  battle  which 
ensued  was  the  greatest  sea-fight  that  the  ancient  world  had  yet 
seen.  The  boarding-bridges  of  the  Romans  again  annihilated  all 
the  advantages  of  maritime  skill.  Their  victory  was  decisive. 
They  lost  only  24  ships,  while  they  destroyed  30  of  the  enemy's 
vessels,  and  took  G4  with  all  their  crews.  The  passage  to  Africa 
was  now  clear,  and  the  remainder  of  the  Carthaginian  fleet  hasten- 
ed home  to  defend  the  capital.  The  Romans  landed  near  the  town 
of  Clupea,  or  Aspis,  which  they  took,  and  there  established  their 
head-quarters.  From  thence  they  laid  waste  the  Carthaginian  ter- 
ritory with  fire  and  sword,  and  collected  an  immense  booty  from 
the  defenseless  country.  On  the  approach  of  winter,  Manlius,  one 
of  the  Consuls,  by  order  of  the  Senate,  returned  to  Rome  with  half 
of  the  army,  while  Regulus  remained  with  the  other  half  to  prose- 
cute the  war.  He  carried  on  his  operations  with  the  utmost  vigor, 
and  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  incompetency  of  the  Carthaginian 
generals.  The  enemy  had  collected  a  considerable  force,  which 
they  intrusted  to  three  commanders,  Hasdrubal,  Bostar,  and  Ha- 
milcar ;  but  these  generals  avoided  the  plains,  where  their  cavalry 
and  elephants  would  have  given  them  an  advantage  over  the  Ro- 
man army,  and  withdrew  into  the  mountains.  There  they  were 
attacked  by  Regulus,  and  utterly  defeated  with  great  loss  ;  15,000 
men  were  killed  in  battle,  and  5000  men,  with  18  elephants,  were 
taken.  The  Carthaginian  troops  retired  within  the  walls  of  the 
capital,  and  Regulus  now  overran  the  country  without  opposition. 
Many  towns  fell  into  the  power  of  the  Romans,  and  among  others 
Tunis,  which  was  at  the  distance  of  only  20  miles  from  Carthage. 
The  Numidians  took  the  opportunity  of  recovering  their  independ- 
ence, and  their  roving  bands  completed  the  devastation  of  the  coun- 
try. The  Carthaginians,  in  despair,  sent  a  herald  to  Regulus  to  so- 
licit peace ;  but  the  Roman  general,  intoxicated  with  success,  would 
only  grant  it  on  such  intolerable  terms  that  the  Carthaginians  re- 
solved to  continue  the  war  and  hold  out  to  the  last.  In  the  midst 
of  their  distress  and  alarm,  succor  came  to  them  from  an  unexpect- 
ed quarter.  Among  the  Greek  mercenaries  who  had  lately  arrived 
at  Carthage  was  a  Lacedemonian  of  the  name  of  Xanthippus.  Ha 


B.C.  2G4-241.       THE  FIRST  PUNIC  WAR.  73 

pointed  out  to  the  Carthaginians  that  their  defeats  were  owing  to 
the  incompetency  of  their  generals,  and  not  to  the  superiority  of 
the  Roman  arms;  and  he  inspired  such  confidence  in  the  govern- 
ment, that  he  was  forthwith  placed  at  the  head  of  their  troops. 
Relying  on  his  4000  cavalry  and  100  elephants,  Xanthippus  bold- 
ly marched  into  the  open  country  to  meet  the  enemy,  though  his 
forces  were  very  inferior  in  number  to  the  Romans.  Regulus  read- 
ily accepted  battle  thus  offered  ;  but  it  ended  in  his  total  over- 
throw. Thirty  thousand  Romans  were  slain ;  scarcely  2000  es- 
caped to  Clupea,  and  Regulus  himself,  with  500  more,  was  taken 
prisoner.  This  was  in  the  year  B.C.  255. 

Another  disaster  awaited  the  Romans  in  this  year.  Their  fleet, 
which  had  been  sent  to  Africa  to  carry  off  the  remains  of  the  army 
of  Regulus,  had  not  only  succeeded  in  their  object,  but  had  gained 
a  victoiy  over  the  Carthaginian  fleet.  They  were  returning  home 
when  they  were  overtaken  off  Camarina,  in  Sicily,  by  a  fearful 
storm.  Nearly  the  entire  fleet  was  destroyed,  and  the  coast  was 
strewed  for  miles  with  wrecks  and  corpses. 

The  Romans,  with  undiminished  energy,  immediately  set  to  work 
to  build  a  new  fleet,  and  in  less  than  three  months  220  ships  were 
ready  for  sea.  But  the  same  fate  awaited  them.  In  B.C.  253  the 
Consuls  had  ravaged  the  coasts  of  Africa,  but,  on  their  return,  were 
again  surprised  by  a  fearful  storm  off  Cape  Palinurus.  A  hundred 
and  fifty  ships  were  wrecked.  This  blow,  coming  so  soon  after 
the  other,  damped  the  courage  even  of  the  Romans ;  they  determ- 
ined not  to  rebuild  the  fleet,  and  to  keep  only  60  ships  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  coast  of  Italy  and  the  protection  of  the  transports. 

The  war  was  now  confined  to  Sicily ;  but,  since  the  defeat  of 
Regulus,  the  Roman  soldiers  had  been  so  greatly  alarmed  by  the 
elephants,  that  their  generals  did  not  venture  to  attack  the  Cartha- 
ginians. At  length,  in  B.C.  250,  the  Roman  proconsul,  L.  Metellus, 
accepted  battle  under  the  Avails  of  Panormus,  and  gained  a  decisive 
vsctory.  The  Carthaginians  lost  20, 000  men  ;  13  of  their  generals 
adorned  the  triumph  of  Metellus ;  and  104  elephants  were  also  led 
in  the  triumphal  procession.  This  was  the  most  important  battle 
that  had  been  yet  fought  in  Sicily,  and  had  a  decisive  influence 
upon  the  issue  of  the  contest.  It  so  raised  the  spirits  of  the  Ro« 
mans  that  they  determined  once  more  to  build  a  fleet  of  200  sail. 
The  Carthaginians,  on  the  other  hand,  were  anxious  to  bring  the 
war  to  an  end,  and  accordingly  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  to  pro- 
pose an  exchange  of  prisoners,  and  to  offer  terms  of  peace. 

Regulus,  who  had  been  now  five  years  in  captivity,  was  allowed 
to  accompany  the  embassadors,  with  the  promise  that  he  would  re- 
turn to  Carthage  if  their  proposals  were  declined.  This  embassy  is 


71  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  X. 

the  subject  of  one  of  the  most  celebrated  stories  in  the  Roman  an- 
nals. The  orators  and  poets  relate  how  Regulus  at  first  refused  to 
enter  the  city  as  a  slave  of  the  Carthaginians ;  how  afterward  he 
would  not  give  his  opinion  in  the  Senate,  as  he  had  ceased  by  his 
captivity  to  be  a  member  of  that  illustrious  body  ;  how,  at  length, 
when  induced  by  his  countrymen  to  speak,  he  endeavored  to  dis- 
suade the  Senate  from  assenting  to  a  peace,  or  even  to  an  exchange 
of  prisoners ;  and  when  he  saw  them  wavering,  from  their  desire  to 
redeem  him  from  captivity,  how  he  told  them  that  the  Carthagini- 
ans  had  given  him  a  slow  poison,  which  would  soon  terminate  his 
life ;  and  how,  finally,  when  the  Senate,  through  his  influence,  re- 
fused the  offers  of  the  Carthaginians,  he  firmly  resisted  all  the  per- 
suasions of  his  friends  to  remain  in  Rome,  and  returned  to  Car- 
thage, where  a  martyr's  death  awaited  him.  It  is  related  that  he 
was  placed  in  a  barrel  covered  over  with  iron  nails,  and  thus  per- 
ished. Other  writers  state,  in  addition,  that,  after  his  eyelids  had 
been  cut  off,  he  was  first  thrown  into  a  dark  dungeon,  and  then  sud- 
denly exposed  to  the  full  rays  of  a  burning  sun.  When  the  news 
of  the  barbarous  death  of  Regulus  reached  Rome,  the  Senate  is  said 
to  have  given  Hamilcar  and  Bostar,  two  of  the  noblest  Carthagin- 
ian prisoners,  to  the  family  of  Regulus,  who  revenged  themselves 
ly  putting  them  to  death  with  cruel  torments. 

Regulus  was  one  of  the  favorite  characters  of  early  Roman  sto- 
ry. Not  only  was  he  celebrated  for  his  heroism  in  giving  the  Sen- 
ate advice  which  secured  him  a  martyr's  death,  but  also  on  account 
of  his  frugality  and  simplicity  of  life.  Like  Fabricius  and  Curius, 
he  lived  on  his  hereditary  farm,  which  he  cultivated  with  his  own 
hands  ;  and  subsequent  ages  loved  to  tell  how  he  petitioned  the 
Senate  for  his  recall  from  Africa  when  he  was  in  the  full  career  of 
victory,  as  his  farm  was  going  to  ruin  in  his  absence,  and  his  fam- 
ily was  suffering  from  want. 

The  Carthaginian  dominion  in  Sicily  was  now  confined  to  the 
northwestern  corner  of  the  island,  and  Lilybaeum  and  Drepanum 
were  the  only  two  towns  remaining  in  their  hands.  Lilybaium, 
situated  upon  a  promontory  at  the  western  extremity  of  the  island, 
was  the  strong-hold  of  the  Carthaginian  power ;  and  accordingly 
the  Romans  determined  to  concentrate  all  their  efforts,  and  to  em- 
ploy the  armies  of  both  Consuls  in  attacking  this  city.  This  siege, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  memorable  in  ancient  history,  com- 
menced in  B.C.  250,  and  lasted  till  the  termination  of  the  war.  In 
the  eecond  year  of  the  siege  (u.c.  249),  the  Consul  P.  Claudius, 
\vho  lay  before  Lilybamm,  formed  the  design  of  attacking  the  Car- 
thaginian fleet  in  the  neighboring  harbor  of  Drepanum.  In  vain 
did  the  auguries  warn  him-  The  keeper  of  the  sacred  chickens  told 


B.C.  264-241.        THE  FIRST  TUNIC  WAR.  75 

him  that  they  would  not  eat.  "At  any  rate,"  said  he, "let  them 
drink ;"  and  he  ordered  them  to  be  thrown  overboard.  His  impi- 
ety met  with  a  meet  reward.  He  was  defeated  with  great  loss ; 
93  of  his  ships  were  taken  or  destroyed,  and  only  30  escaped. 
Great  was  the  indignation  at  Rome.  He  was  recalled  by  the  Sen- 
ate, ordered  to  appoint  a  Dictator,  and  then  to  lay  down  his  office. 
Claudius,  in  scorn,  named  M.  Claudius  Glycias,  a  son  of  one  of  his 
freedmen.  But  the  Senate  would  not  brook  this  insult ;  they  de- 
prived the  unworthy  man  of  the  honor,  and  appointed  in  his  placo 
A.  Atilius  Calatinus. 

The  other  Consul,  C.  Junius,  was  equally  unfortunate.  He  was 
sailing  along  the  coasts  of  Sicily  with  a  convoy  of  800  vessels,  in- 
tended to  relieve  the  wants  of  the  army  at  Lilybieum,  when  he  was 
overtaken  by  one  of  those  terrible  storms  which  had  twice  before 
proved  so  fatal  to  the  Roman  fleets.  The  transports  were  all  dash- 
ed to  pieces,  and  of  his  105  ships  of  war  only  two  escaped.  Thus 
the  Roman  fleet  was  a  third  time  destroyed.  These  repeated  mis- 
fortunes compelled  the  Romans  to  abandon  any  farther  attempts 
to  contest  the  supremacy  of  the  sea. 

About  this  timo  a  really  great  man  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  Carthaginian  army — a  man  who,  at  an  earlier  period  of  the  war, 
xmight  have  brought  the  struggle  to  a  very  different  termination. 
This  was  the  celebrated  Hamilcar  Barca,*  the  father  of  the  still 
more  celebrated  Hannibal.  He  was  still  a  young  man  at  the  time 
of  his  appointment  to  the  command  in  Sicily  (B.C.  247).  His  very 
first  operations  were  equally  daring  and  successful.  Instead  of 
confining  himself  to  the  defense  of  Lilybseum  and  Drepanum,  with 
which  the  Carthaginian  commanders  had  been  hitherto  contented, 
he  made  descents  upon  the  coast  of  Italy,  and  then  suddenly  land- 
ed on  the  north  of  Sicily,  and  established  himself,  with  his  whole 
army,  on  a  mountain  called  Hercte  (the  modern  Monte  Pellegrino), 
which  overhung  the  town  of  Panormus  (the  modern  Palermo),  one 
of  the  most  important  of  the  Roman  possessions.  Here  he  main- 
tained himself  for  nearly  three  years,  to  the  astonishment  alike  of 
friends  and  foes,  and  from  hence  he  made  continual  descents  into 
the  enemy's  country,  and  completely  prevented  them  from  making 
any  vigorous  attacks  either  upon  Lilybaeum  or  Drepanum.  All  the 
efforts  of  the  Romans  to  dislodge  him  were  unsuccessful ;  and  he 
only  quitted  Hercte  in  order  to  seize  Eryx,  a  town  situated  upon 
the  mountain  of  this  name,  and  only  six  miles  from  Drepanum. 
This  position  he  held  for  two  years  longer ;  and  the  Romans,  de- 
spairing of  driving  the  Carthaginians  out  of  Sicily  so  long  as  they 
were  masters  of  the  sea,  resolved  to  build  another  fleet.  In  B.C. 
*  Barca  is  the  same  as  the  Hebrew  word  Barak,  "  lightning." 


76 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


ClIAI'.X. 


242  the  Consul  Lutatius  Catulus  put  to  sea  with  a  fleet  of  200  ships, 
and  in  the  following  year  he  gained  a  decisive  victory  over  the  Car- 
thaginian fleet,  com- 
manded by  llanno, 
off  the  group  of  isl- 
ands called  the  YEga- 
tes. 

This  victory  gave 
the  Romans  the  su- 
premacy by  sea.  Li- 
lybajum,  Drepanum, 
and  Eryx  might  now 
be  reduced  by  fam- 
ine. The  Carthagin- 
iflns  were  weary  of 
tin;  war,  and  indis- 
posed to  make  any 
farther  sacrifices. 
They  therefore  sent 
orders  to  Hamilcar  to 
make  peace  on  the 
best  terms  he  could. 
It  was  at  length  con  • 
eluded  on  the  fol- 
lowing conditions  : 
that  Carthage  should 
evacuate  Sicily  and 
the  adjoining  isl- 
ands ;  that  she  should 
restore  the  Roman 
prisoners  without 
ransom,  and  should 
pay  the  sum  of  3200 
talents  within  the  space  of  ten  years  (B.C.  241).  All  Sicily,  with 
the  exception  of  the  territory  of  Hiero,  now  became  a  portion  of 
the  Roman  dominions,  and  was  formed  into  a  Province,  governed 
by  a  Praetor,  who  was  sent  annually  from  Rome. 


Plan  of  Mount  Erctu. 


A.  Ercta,  now  Monte  Ftllegrino. 

B.  PnuormuB.  the  modern  Palermo. 


Coin  of  Carthage. 
CHAPTER  XL 

EVENTS   BETWEEN   THE   FIRST   AND    SECOND   PUNIC    WARS. 
B.C.  240-210. 

TWENTY-THREE  years  elapsed  between  the  First  and  Second 
Punic  Wars.  The  power  of  Carthage,  though  crippled,  was  not  de- 
stroyed :  and  Hamilcar  returned  home,  burning  with  hatred  against 
Rome,  and  determined  to  renew  the  war  upon  a  favorable  opportu- 
nity. But  a  new  and  terrible  danger  threatened  Carthage  upon 
her  own  soil.  The  mercenary  troops,  who  had  been  transported 
from  Sicily  to  Africa  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  being  unable  to 
obtain  their  arrears  of  pay,  rose  in  open  mutiny.  Their  leaders 
were  Spendius,  a  runaway  Campanian  slave,  and  Matho,  a  Libyan. 
They  were  quickly  joined  by  the  native  Libyans,  and  brought  Car- 
thage almost  to  the  brink  of  destruction.  They  laid  waste  the 
whole  country  with  fire  and  sword,  made  themselves  masters  of  all 
the  towns  except  the  capital,  and  committed  the  most  frightful 
atrocities.  Carthage  owed  her  safety  to  the  genius  and  abilities 
of  Hamilcar.  The  struggle  was  fierce  and  sanguinary,  but  was  at 
length  brought  to  a  successful  issue,  after  it  had  lasted  more  than 
three  years,  by  the  destruction  of  all  the  mercenaries.  It  was  call- 
ed the  War  without  Peace,  or  the  Inexpiable  War  (B.C.  238). 

The  Romans  availed  themselves  of  the  exhausted  condition  of 
Carthage  to  demand  from  her  the  islands  of  Sardinia  and  Corsica, 
and  the  payment  of  a  farther  sum  of  1 200  talents.  The  mercenary 
troops  in  Sardinia,  who  had  also  revolted,  had  applied  to  Rome  for 
assistance ;  and  the  Senate  menaced  her  rival  with  war  unless  she 
complied  with  these  unjust  demands.  Resistance  was  impossible, 
and  Sardinia  and  Corsica  were  now  formed  into  a  Roman  prov- 


78  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  XI. 

incc,  governed,  like  Sicily,  by  a  Praetor  sent  annually  from  Rome 
(B.C.  238).  This  act  of  robbery  added  fresh  fuel  to  the  implacable 
animosity  of  Hamilcar  against  the  grasping  Republic.  He  now 
departed  for  Spain,  where  for  many  years  he  steadily  worked  to 
lay  the  foundation  of  a  new  empire,  which  might  not  only  compen- 
sate for  the  loss  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  but  enable  him  at  some 
time  to  renew  hostilities  against  Rome. 

Rome  was  now  at  peace,  and  in  B.C.  235  the  Temple  of  Janus, 
which  had  remained  open  since  the  days  of  Numa,  was  closed  for 
a  second  time.  Two  new  tribes  were  added  to  the  Roman  territo- 
ry, thus  making  their  total  number  thirty-five. 

The  Temple  of  Janus  did  not  long  remain  closed.  The  Illyri- 
ans,  who  dwelt  near  the  head  of  the  Adriatic  upon  its  eastern  side, 
were  a  nation  of  pirates,  who  ravaged  the  coasts  of  this  sea.  The 
Senate  having  sent  embassadors  to  the  Illyrian  queen,  Teuta,  to 
complain  of  these  outrages,  she  not  only  refused  to  attend  to  their 
complaints,  but  caused  one  of  the  embassadors  to  be  murdered. 
War  was  straightway  declared,  and  a  Roman  army  for  the  first 
time  crossed  the  Adriatic  (B.C.  229).  Demetrius  of  Pharos,  an  un- 
principled Greek,  who  was  the  chief  counselor  of  Teuta,  deserted 
his  mistress,  and  surrendered  to  the  Romans  the  important  island 
of  Corcyra.  Teuta  was  obliged  to  yield  to  the  Romans  every  thing 
they  demanded,  and  promised  that  the  Illyrians  should  not  appear 
south  of  Lissa  with  more  than  two  vessels.  The  suppression  of 
piracy  in  the  Adriatic  was  hailed  with  gratitude  by  the  Grecian 
states,  and  deserves  notice  as  the  first  occasion  upon  which  the  Ro- 
mans were  brought  into  immediate  contact  with  Greece.  The  Con- 
sul Postumius,  who  had  wintered  in  Illyria,  sent  envoys  to  Athens, 
Corinth,  and  other  Grecian  cities,  to  explain  what  had  been  done. 
The  envoys  were  received  with  honor,  and  thanks  were  returned 
to  Rome  (B.C.  228). 

The  Romans  had  scarcely  brought  this  trifling  war  to  an  end 
when  they  became  involved  in  a  formidable  struggle  with  their  old 
enemies  the  Gauls.  Since  the  conquest  of  the  Senones  in  B.C.  289, 
and  of  the  Boii  in  B.  c.  283,  the  Gauls  had  remained  quiet.  The 
Romans  had  founded  the  colony  of  Sena  after  the  subjugation  of 
the  Senones;  and  in  B.C.  268  they  had  still  farther  strengthened 
their  dominion  in  those  parts  by  founding  the  colony  of  Ariminum. 
But  the  greater  part  of  the  soil  from  which  the  Senones  were  eject- 
ed became  Public  Land.  In  B.C.  232  the  Tribune  C.  Flaminiua 
carried  an  Agrarian  Law  to  the  effect  that  this  portion  of  the  pub- 
lic land,  known  by  the  name  of  the  "Gallic  Land,"*  should  be  dis- 
tributed among  the  poorer  citizens.  This  alarmed  the  Boii,  who 
*  Oallicus  ager. 


B.C.  240-219.    EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE  TWO  WAKS.    71) 

dwelt  upon  the  borders  of  this  district.  They  invoked  the  assist- 
ance of  the  powerful  tribe  of  the  Insubres,  and  being  joined  by 
them,  as  well  as  by  large  bodies  of  Gauls  from  beyond  the  Alps, 
they  set  out  for  Rome. 

All  Italy  was  in  alarm.  The  Romans  dreaded  a  repetition  of 
the  disaster  of  the  Allia.  The  Sibylline  Books  being  consulted,  de- 
clared that  Rome  must  be  twice  occupied  by  a  foreign  foe ;  where- 
upon the  Senate  ordered  that  two  Gauls  and  a  Grecian  woman 
should  be  buried  alive  in  the  forum.  The  allies  eagerly  offered 
men  and  supplies  to  meet  a  danger  which  was  common  to  the 
whole  peninsula.  An  army  of  150,000  foot  and  GOOO  horse  was 
speedily  raised.  A  decisive  battle  was  fought  near  Telamon  in 
Etruria.  The  Gauls  were  hemmed  in  between  the  armies  of  the 
two  Consuls.  As  many  as  40,000  of  their  men  were  slain,  and 
10,000  taken  prisoners  (B.C.  225).  The  Romans  followed  up  their 
success  by  invading  the  country  of  the  Boii,  who  submitted  in  the 
following  year  (B.C.  224). 

In  B.C.  223  the  Romans  for  the  first  time  crossed  the  Po,  and 
the  Consul  C.  Flaminius  gained  a  brilliant  victory  over  the  Insu- 
bres. The  Consuls  of  the  next  year,  Cn.  Cornelius  Scipio  and  M. 
Claudius  Marcellus,  continued  the  war  against  the  Insubres,  who 
called  in  to  their  aid  a  fresh  body  of  Transalpine  Gauls.  Marcel- 
lus slew  with  his  own  hand  Viridomarus,  the  chief  of  the  Insubrian 
Gauls,  and  thus  gained  the  third  Spolia  Opima.  At  the  same  time 
Scipio  took  Mediolanum  (Milan),  the  chief  town  of  the  Insubres. 
This  people  now  submitted  without  conditions,  and  the  war  was 
brought  to  an  end.  To  secure  their  recent  conquests,  the  Romans 
determined  to  plant  two  powerful  Latin  colonies  at  Placcntia  and 
Cremona,  on  opposite  banks  of  the  Po.  These  were  founded  in 
B.C.  218,  and  consisted  each  of  6000  men.  The  Via  Flaminia,  a 
road  constructed  by  C.  Flaminius  during  his  consulship  (B.C.  220), 
from  Rome  to  Ariminum,  secured  the  communication  with  the 
north  of  Italy. 

While  the  Romans  were  engaged  in  the  Gallic  wars,  the  traitor 
Demetrius  of  Pharos  had  usurped  the  chief  power  in  Illyria,  and 
had  ventured  upon  many  acts  of  piracy.  In  B.C.  219  the  Consul 
L.  jEmilius  Paullus  crossed  the  Adriatic,  and  soon  brought  this 
second  Illyrian  war  to  an  end.  Demetrius  fled  to  Philip  of  Mace- 
don,  where  we  shall  shortly  afterward  see  him  prompting  this  king 
to  make  war  against  Rome.  The  greater  part  of  Illyria  was  re- 
stored to  the  native  chiefs ;  but  the  Romans  retained  possession  of 
Corcyra,  and  of  the  important  towns  of  Apollonia  and  Oricum  on 
the  coast. 

Meanwhile  Hamilcar  had  been  steadily  pursuing  his  conquests 


80  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XI. 

in  Spain.  The  subjugation  of  this  country  was  only  a  means  to 
an  end.  His  great  object,  as  already  stated,  was  to  obtain  the 
means  of  attacking,  and,  if  possible,  crushing  that  hated  rival  who 
had  robbed  liis  country  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Corsica.  His  im- 
placable animosity  against  Rome  is  shown  by  the  well-known  tale 
that,  when  he  crossed  over  to  Spain  in  B.C.  235,  taking  with  him 
his  son  Hannibal,  then  only  nine  years  old,  he  made  him  swear  at 
the  altar  eternal  hostility  to  Rome.  During  the  eight  years  that 
Hamilcar  continued  in  Spain  he  carried  the  Carthaginian  arms  into 
the  heart  of  the  country.  While  he  conquered  several  states  in 
war,  he  gained  over  others  by  negotiation,  and  availed  himself  of 
their  services  as  allies  or  mercenaries.  He  fell  in  battle  in  B.C. 
229,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  command  by  his  son-in-law  Hasdru- 
bal.  His  plans  were  ably  carried  out  by  his  successor.  The  con- 
ciliatory manners  of  Ilasdrubal  gained  him  the  affections  of  the 
Spaniards;  and  he  consolidated  the  Carthaginian  empire  in  Spain 
by  the  foundation  of  New  Carthage,  now  Cartagena,  in  a  situation 
admirably  chosen  on  account  of  its  excellent  harbor  and  easy  com- 
munication with  Africa,  as  well  as  from  its  proximity  to  the  silver 
mines,  which  supplied  him  with  the  means  of  paying  his  troops. 
The  conduct  of  his  warlike  enterprises  was  intrusted  to  the  youth- 
ful Hannibal,  who  had  been  trained  in  arms  under  the  eye  of  his 
father,  and  who  already  displayed  that  ability  for  war  which  made 
him  one  of  the  most  celebrated  generals  in  ancient  or  modern 
times.  The  successes  of  Hamilcar  and  Hasdrubal  could  not  fail  to 
attract  the  notice  of  the  Romans,  and  in  B.C.  227  they  concluded  a 
treaty  with  the  latter,  by  which  the  River  Iberus  (Ebro)  was  fixed 
as  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Carthaginian  empire  in  Spain. 

Hasdrubal  was  assassinated  in  B.C.  221  by  a  slave  whose  master 
he  had  put  to  death.  Hannibal  had  now  acquired  such  a  remark, 
able  ascendency  over  the  army  that  the  soldiers  unanimously  pro- 
claimed him  commander-in-chicf,  and  the  government  at  Carthage 
hastened  to  ratify  an  appointment  which  they  had  not,  in  fact,  the 
power  to  prevent.  Hannibal  was  at  this  time  in  the  2Cth  year  of 
his  age.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  already  looked  forward  to 
the  invasion  and  conquest  of  Italy  as  the  goal  of  his  ambition ;  but 
it  was  necessary  for  him  first  to  complete  the  work  which  had  been 
so  ably  begun  by  his  two  predecessors,  and  to  establish  the  Cartha- 
ginian power  as  firmly  as  possible  in  Spain.  This  he  accomplish- 
ed in  two  campaigns,  in  the  course  of  which  he  brought  all  the  na- 
tions south  of  the  Iberus  into  subjection  to  Carthage. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  B.C.  219  he  proceeded  to  lay  siege  to  Sa- 
guntum,  a  city  of  Greek  origin,  founded  by  the  Zacynthians. 
Though  situated  to  the  south  of  the  Iberus,  and  therefore  not  in- 


B.C.  249-219.   EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE  TWO  WARS.     81 

eluded  under  the  protection  of  the  treaty  between  Hasdrubal  and 
the  Romans,  Saguntmn  had  concluded  an  alliance  with  the  latter 
people.  There  could  be  little  doubt,  therefore,  that  an  attack 
upon  this  city  would  inevitably  bring  on  a  war  with  Rome ;  but  for 
this  Hannibal  was  prepared,  or,  rather,  it  was  unquestionably  his 
real  object.  The  immediate  pretext  of  his  invasion  was  the  same 
of  which  the  Romans  so  often  availed  themselves — some  injury  in- 
flicted by  the  Saguntines  upon  one  of  the  neighboring  tribes,  who 
invoked  the  assistance  of  Hannibal.  But  the  resistance  of  the  city 
was  long  and  desperate,  and  it  was  not  till  after  a  siege  of  nearly 
eight  months  that  he  made  himself  master  of  the  place.  During 
all  this  period  the  Romans  sent  no  assistance  to  their  allies. 
They  had,  indeed,  as  soon  as  they  heard  of  the  siege,  dispatched 
embassadors  to  Hannibal,  but  he  referred  them  for  an  answer  to 
the  government  at  home,  and  they  could  obtain  no  satisfaction 
from  the  Carthaginians,  in  whose  councils  the  war-party  had  now 
n  decided  predominance.  A  second  embassy  was  sent,  after  tho 
fall  of  Saguntum,  to  demand  the  surrender  of  Hannibal,  in  atone- 
ment for  the  breach  of  the  treaty.  After  much  discussion,  Q.  Fa- 
bius,  one  of  the  Roman  embassadors,  holding  up  a  fold  of  his  toga, 
said,  "I  carry  here  peace  and  war;  choose  ye  which  ye  will." 
"Give  us  which  you  will,"  was  the  reply.  " Then  take  war,"  said 
Fabius,  letting  fall  his  toga.  "We  accept  the  gift,"  cried  the  Seiv 
ators  of  Carthage.  Thus  commenced  the  Second  Punic  War. 


Coin  of  Iliero. 
F 


Lake  Trasitncnus. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

THE  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR  :  FIKST  PERIOD,  DOWN  TO  THE  BATPLE 
OF  CANN^:.     B.C.  218-216. 

THE  Second  Punic  War  was  not  so  much  a  contest  between  the 
powers  of  two  great  nations — between  Carthage  and  Rome — as  be- 
tween the  individual  genius  of  Hannibal  on  one  hand,  and  the 
combined  energies  of  the  Roman  people  on  the  other.  The  posi- 
tion of  Hannibal  was  indeed  very  peculiar.  His  command  in  Spain, 
and  the  powerful  army  there,  which  was  entirely  at  his  own  dispo- 
sal, rendered  him  in  great  measure  independent  of  the  government 
at  Carthage,  nn  I  the  latter  seemed  disposed  to  devolve  all  respon- 
sibilty  upon  him.  Even  now  they  did  little  themselves  to  prepare 
for  the  impending  contest.  All  was  left  to  Hannibal,  who,  after 
the  conquest  of  Saguntum,  had  returned  once  mo7-c  to  New  Car- 
thage for  the  winter,  and  was  there  actively  engaged  in  preparations 
for  transporting  the  scene  of  war  in  the  ensuing  campaign  from 
Spain  into  Italy.  At  the  same  time  he  did  not  neglect  to  provide 
for  the  defense  of  Spain  and  Africa  during  his  absence.  In  the 


B.C.218-21G.   SECOND  PUNIC  WAH:  FIRST  PERIOD.     83 

former  country  he  placed  his  brother  Hasdrubal,  with  a  consider*. 
Lie  army,  great  part  of  which  was  composed  of  Africans,  while  he 
sent  over  a  large  body  of  Spanish  troops  to  contribute  to  the  de- 
fense of  Africa,  and  even  of  Carthage  itself. 

All  his  preparations  being  now  completed,  Hannibal  quitted  his 
winter  quarters  at  New  Carthage  in  the  spring  of  B.C.  218,  and 
crossed  the  Iberus  with  an  army  of  90,000  foot  and  12,000  horse. 
The  tribes  between  that  river  and  the  Pyrenees  offered  at  first  a 
vigorous  resistance,  and,  though  they  were  quickly  subdued,  Han- 
nibal thought  it  necessary  to  leave  behind  him  a  force  of  11,000 
men  under  Hanno  to  maintain  this  newly-acquired  province.  His 
forces  were  farther  thinned  by  desertion  during  the  passage  of  the 
Pyrenees,  which  obliged  him  to  send  home  a  large  body  of  his  Span- 
ish troops.  With  a  greatly  diminished  army,  but  one  on  which  he 
could  securely  rely,  he  now  continued  his  march  from  the  foot  of 
the  Pyrenees  to  the  Rhone  without  meeting  with  any  opposition ; 
for  the  Gaulish  tribes  through  which  he  passed  were  favorably  dis- 
posed to  him,  or  had  been  previously  gained  over  by  his  enemies. 

The  Consul  P.  Cornelius  Scipio  had  been  ordered  to  proceed  to 
Spain,  but  various  causes  had  detained  him  in  Italy,  and  upon  land- 
ing at  Massilia  (Marseilles)  he  found  that  Hannibal  was  already 
advancing  toward  the  Rhone.  Meantime  the  Carthaginian  gener- 
al effected  his  passage  across  the  river,  notwithstanding  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  Gauls  ;  and  when  Scipio  marched  up  the  left  bank  of 
the  river  he  found  that  Hannibal  had  advanced  into  the  interior  of 
Gaul,  and  was  already  three  days  in  advance  of  him.  Despairing, 
therefore,  of  overtaking  Hannibal,  he  determined  to  sail  back  to 
Italy  and  await  him  in  Cisalpine  Gaul ;  but  as  the  Republic  had  al- 
ready an  army  in  that  province,  he  sent  the  greater  part  of  his  own 
forces  into  Spain  under  the  command  of  his  brother  Cn.  Scipio. 
This  prudent  step  probably  saved  Rome ;  for  if  the  Carthaginians 
had  maintained  the  undisputed  mastery  of  Spain,  they  might  have 
concentrated  all  their  efforts  to  support  Hannibal  in  Italy,  and  have 
sent  him  such  strong  re-enforcements  after  the  battle  of  Cannae  as 
would  have  compelled  Rome  to  submit. 

Hannibal,  after  crossing  the  Rhone,  continued  his  march  up  the 
left  bank  of  the  river  as  far  as  its  confluence  with  the  Isere.  Hero 
he  interposed  in  a  dispute  between  two  rival  chiefs  of  the  Allo* 
broges,  and,  by  lending  his  aid  to  establish  one  of  them  firmly  on. 
the  throne,  secured  the  co-operation  of  an  efficient  ally,  who  great, 
ly  facilitated  his  farther  progress.  But  in  his  passage  across  tho 
Alps  he  was  attacked  by  the  barbarians,  and  as  he  struggled  through 
the  narrow  and  dangerous  denies  the  enemy  destroyed  numbers  of 
his  men.  It  was  some  days  before  he  reached  the  summit  of  thi? 


84  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  Xtt. 

pass.  Thenceforth  he  suffered  but  little  from  hostile  attacks,  but 
the  descent  was  difficult  and  dangerous.  The  natural  difficulties 
of  the  road,  enhanced  by  the  lateness  of  the  season  (the  beginning 
of  October,  at  which  time  the  snows  had  already  commenced  in  the 
high  Alps),  caused  him  almost  as  much  loss  as  the  opposition  of 
the  barbarians  on  the  other  side  of  the  mountains.  So  heavy  were 
his  losses  from  these  combined  causes,  that,  when  he  ai  length 
emerged  from  the  valley  of  Aosta  into  the  plains  of  the  Po  and  en. 
camped  in  the  friendly  country  of  the  Insubrcs,  he  had  with  him 
no  more  than  20,000  foot  and  COOO  horse.*  Such  were  the  forces 
with  which  he  descended  into  Italy  to  attempt  the  overthrow  of  a 
power  that  a  few  years  before  was  able  to  muster  a  disposable  force 
of  above  700,000  fighting  men. 

Five  months  had  been  employed  in  the  march  from  New  Carthage 
to  the  plains  of  Italy,  of  which  the  actual  passage  of  the  Alps  had 
occupied  fifteen  days.  Hannibal's  first  care  was  now  to  recruit  the 
strength  of  his  troops,  exhausted  by  the  hardships  and  fatigues  they 
had  undergone.  After  a  short  interval  of  repose,  he  turned  his 
arms  against  the  Taurinians  (a  tribe  bordering  on,  and  hostile  to, 
the  Insubrians,  whom  he  quickly  reduced,  and  took  their  principal 
city  (Turin).  The  news  of  the  approach  of  P.  Scipio  next  obliged 
him  to  turn  his  attention  toward  a  more  formidable  enemy.  In  the 
first  action,  which  took  place  in  the  plains  westward  of  the  Ticinus, 
the  cavalry  and  light-armed  troops  of  the  two  armies  were  alone 
engaged,  and  the  superiority  of  Hannibal's  Numidian  horse  at  once 
decided  the  combat  in  his  favor.  The  Romans  were  completely 
routed,  and  Scipio  himself  severely  wounded ;  in  consequence  of 
which  he  hastened  to  retreat  beyond  the  Ticinus  and  the  Po,  un- 
der the  walls  of  Placentia.  Hannibal  crossed  the  Po  higher  up, 
and,  advancing  to  Placentia,  offered  battle  to  Scipio ;  but  the  lat- 
ter declined  the  combat,  and  withdrew  to  the  hills  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Trebia.  Here  he  was  soon  after  joined  by  the  other  Consul, 
Ti.  Sempronius  Longus,  who  had  hastened  from  Ariminum  to  his 
support.  Their  combined  armies  were  greatly  superior  to  that  of 
the  Carthaginians,  and  Sempronius  was  eager  to  bring  on  a  general 
battle,  of  which  Hannibal,  on  his  side,  was  not  less  desirous,  not- 
withstanding the  great  inferiority  of  his  force.  The  result  was  de- 
cisive ;  the  Romans  were  completely  defeated,  with  heavy  loss  ; 
and  the  remains  of  their  shattered  army,  together  with  the  two 
Consuls,  took  refuge  within  the  walls  of  Placentia.  The  battles 
of  the  Ticinus  and  Trebia  had  been  fought  in  December,  and  the 

*  The  pass  of  the  Alps  which  Hannibal  crossed  was  probably  the  Graian  Alps, 
or  Little  St.  Bernard.  See  note  "On  the  Passage  of  Hannibal  across  the  Alps" 
at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


B.C.  218-216.     SECOND  PUNIC  WAR :  FIRST  PERIOD.      86 


80  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XII. 

winter  had  already  begun  with  unusual  severity,  so  that  Hannibal's 
troops  suffered  severely  from  cold,  and  all  his  elephants  perished 
except  one.  But  his  victory  had  caused  all  the  wavering  tribes  of 
the  Gauls  to  declare  in  his  favor,  and  he  was  now  able  to  take  up 
his  winter  quarters  in  security,  and  to  levy  fresh  troops  among  the 
Gauls  while  he  awaited  the  approach  of  spring. 

As  soon  as  the  season  permitted  the  renewal  of  military  oper- 
ations (B.C.  217),  Hannibal  entered  the  country  of  the  Ligurian 
tribes,  who  had  lately  declared  in  his  favor,  and  descended  by  tho 
valley  of  the  Macra  into  the  marshes  on  the  banks  of  the  Arno 
He  had  apparently  chosen  this  route  in  order  to  avoid  the  Roman 
armies,  which  guarded  the  more  obvious  passes  of  the  Apennines ; 
but  the  hardships  and  difficulties  which  he  encountered  in  strug- 
gling through  the  marshes  were  immense ;  great  numbers  of  his 
horses  and  beasts  of  burden  perished,  and  he  himself  lost  the  sight 
of  one  eye  by  a  violent  attack  of  ophthalmia.  At  length,  howev- 
er, he  reached  Fresula;  in  safety,  and  was  able  to  allow  his  troops  a 
short  interval  of  repose. 

The  Consuls  for  this  year  were  Cn.  Servilius  and  C.  Flaminius. 
The  latter  was  the  author  of  the  celebrated  Agrarian  Law  which 
occasioned  the  Gallic  War,  and  in  his  first  consulship  he  had  gain- 
ed a  great  victory  over  the  Insubrian  Gauls  (sec  p.  7i>).  He  had 
been  raised  to  his  second  consulship  by  popular  favor,  in  spite  of 
the  opposition  of  the  Senate ;  and  he  hurried  from  Rome  before 
the  Ides  of  March,*  lest  the  Senate  might  throw  any  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  his  entering  upon  his  consulship.  He  was  a  man  of 
great  energy,  but  headstrong  and  reckless.  When  Hannibal  ar- 
rived at  Fa^sulac,  Flaminius  was  witli  his  army  at  Arretium.  It 
was  always  the  object  of  Hannibal  to  bring  the  Roman  command- 
ers to  a  battle,  and  therefore,  in  moving  from  FaesuliJC,  he  passed  by 
the  Roman  general,  and  advanced  toward  Perugia,  laying  waste  tho 
fertile  country  on  his  line  of  march.  Flaminius  immediately  broke 
up  his  camp,  and,  following  the  traces  of  Hannibal,  fell  into  the 
snare  which  was  prepared  for  him.  His  army  was  attacked  under 
the  most  disadvantageous  circumstances,  where  it  was  hemmed  in 
between  rocky  heights,  previously  occupied  by  the  enemy,  and  the 
Lake  of  Trasimenus.  Its  destruction  was  almost  complete.  Thou- 
sands fell  by  the  sword,  among  whom  was  the  Consul  himself;  ' 
thousands  more  perished  in  the  lake,  and  no  less  than  15,000  pris- 
oners fell  into  the  hands  of  Hannibal,  who  on  his  side  is  said  to 
have  lost  only  1500  men.  Hannibal's  treatment  of  the  captives  on 
this  occasion,  as  well  as  after  the  battle  of  the  Trcbia,  was  marked 

*  At  this  time  the  Consuls  entered  upon  their  office  on  the  Wes  of  March.     It 
vaa  not  till  u.o.  153  that  the  consulship  commenced  on  the  Kalends  of  January. 


B.C.  218-216.  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR:  FIRST  PERIOD.    87 

l>y  the  same  policy  on  which  he  afterward  uniformly  nctccl ;  the 
Roman  citizens  alone  were  retained  as  prisoners,  while  their  Ital- 
ian allies  were  dismissed  without  ransom  to  their  respective  homes. 
By  this  means  he  hoped  to  excite  the  nations  of  Italy  against  their 
Roman  masters,  and  to  place  himself  in  the  position  of  the  leader 
of  a  national  movement  rather  than  that  of  a,  foreign  invader.  It 
was  probably  in  order  to  give  time  for  this  feeling  to  display  iiself 
thzi  he  did  not,  after  so  decisive  a  victory,  push  on  toward  Rome 
tself ;  but,  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  upon  the  Roman  colony 
of  Spoletium,  he  turned  aside  through  the  Apennines  into  Pice- 
num,  and  thence  into  the  northern  part  of  Apulia.  Here  he  spent 
a  great  part  of  the  summer,  and  was  able  effectually  to  refresh  his 
troops,  who  had  suffered  much  from  the  hardships  of  their  previous 
marches;  but  no  symptoms  appeared  of  the  insurrections  he  had 
looked  for  among  the  Italians. 

If  Meantime  the  Romans  had  collected  a  fresh  army,  which  they 
placed  under  the  command  of  Q.  Fabius  Maximus,  who  had  been 
elected  Dictator  by  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries.  Fabius  formed 
a  different  plan  for  the  campaign.  He  determined  to  keep  the 
heights,  and  not  to  risk  a  battle,  but  at  the  same  time  to  watch  the 
Carthaginian  army,  cut  off  its  supplies,  and  harass  and  annoy  it  in 
every  possible  way.  From  pursuing  this  policy  he  received  the  sur- 
name of  Cvnctator,  or  the  Lingerer. 

Hannibal  now  recrossed  the  Apennines,  descended  into  the  rich 
plains  of  Campania,  and  laid  waste,  without  opposition,  that  fertile 
territory.  But  he  was  unable  either  to  make  himself  master  of  any 

"  of  the  towns,  or  to  draw  the  wary  Fabius  to  a  battle.  The  Roman 
general  contented  himself  with  occupying  the  mountain  passes 
leading  from  Samnium  into  Campania,  by  which  Hannibal  must  of 
necessity  retreat,  and  believed  that  he  had  caught  him,  as  it  were, 
in  a  trap ;  but  Hannibal  eluded  his  vigilance  by  an  ingenious  strat- 
agem, passed  the  defiles  of  the  Apennines  without  loss,  and  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  plains  of  Apulia,  where  he  collected  supplies 
from  all  sides,  in  order  to  prepare  for  the  winter.  Meantime  the 
Romans,  having  become  impatient  at  the  inactivity  of  Fabius,  raised 
Minucius,  the  Master  of  the  Horse,  to  an  equality  in  command  with 
Fabius.  His  rashness  very  nearly  gave  Hannibal  the  opportunity, 
for  which  he  was  ever  on  the  watch,  to  crush  the  Reman  army  by 
a  decisive  blow ;  but  Fabius  was  able  to  save  his  colleague  from  de- 
struction ;  and  Hannibal,  after  obtaining  only  a  partial  advantage, 
took  up  his  winter  quarters  at  the  small  town  of  Geronium.  Mi- 
nucius acknowledged  his  error,  and  resumed  his  post  of  Master  of 
the  Horse. 

During  the  winter  the  Romans  made  preparations  for  bringing 


88  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XII. 

an  unusually  large  force  into  the  field.  The  people  thought  that 
it  needed  only  a  man  of  energy  and  decision  at  the  head  of  an 
overwhelming  force  to  bring  the  war  to  a  close.  They  therefore 
raised  to  the  consulship  C.  Terentius  Varro,  said  to  have  been  the 
son  of  a  butcher,  who  had  been  for  some  time  regarded  as  the 
champion  of  the  popular  party.  The  Senate  regarded  this  election 
with  dismay,  as  Varro  possessed  no  military  experience  ;  and  they 
therefore  persuaded  the  people  to  appoint  as  his  colleague  L. 
jEmilius  Paullus,  who  had  distinguished  himself  by  the  way  in 
which  he  had  conducted  the  Illyrian  war  during  his  consulship. 

Hannibal  remained  at  Geronium  until  late  in  the  spring  (B.C. 
216),  when,  compelled  to  move  by  the  want  of  provisions,  he  sur- 
prised the  Roman  magazines  at  Canna;,  a  small  town  of  Apulia, 
and  established  his  head-quarters  there  until  the  harvest  could  be 
got  in.  Meanwhile  the  two  Roman  Consuls  arrived  at  the  head  of 
an  army  of  little  less  than  90,000  men.  To  this  mighty  host  Han- 
nibal gave  battle  in  the  plains  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Aufidus, 
just  below  the  town  of  Cannaj.  We  have  no  statement  of  the  num- 
bers of  his  army,  but  it  is  certain  that  it  must  have  been  greatly  in- 
ferior to  that  of  the  enemy ;  notwithstanding  which,  the  excellence 
of  his  cavalry,  and  the  disciplined  valor  of  his  African  and  Spanish 
infantry,  gave  him  the  most  decisive  victory.  The  immense  army 
of  the  Romans  was  not  only  defeated,  but  annihilated,  and  be- 
tween forty  and  fifty  thousand  men  are  said  to  have  fallen  in  the 
field,  among  whom  was  the  Consul  JEmilius  Paullus,  both  the  Con- 
suls of  the  preceding  year,  the  late  Master  of  the  Horse,  Minucius, 
above  eighty  senators,  and  a  multitude  of  the  wealthy  knights  who 
composed  the  Roman  cavalry.  The  other  Consul,  Varro,  escaped 
•with  a  few  horsemen  to  Venusia,  and  a  small  band  of  resolute  men 
forced  their  way  from  the  Roman  camp  to  Canusium ;  all  the  rest 
were  killed,  dispersed,  or  taken  prisoners.  Hannibal  has  been  gen- 
erally blamed  for  not  following  up  his  advantage  at  once,  after  so 
decisive  a  victory,  by  an  immediate  advance  upon  Rome  itself — a 
measure  which  was  strongly  urged  upon  him  by  Maharbal.  "  Only 
send  me  on  with  the  cavalry,"  said  this  officer,  "and  within  five 
days  thou  shalt  sup  in  the  Capitol."  Whatever  may  be  the  mo- 
tives that  deterred  Hannibal  from  marching  upon  Rome,  we  can 
not  but  be  surprised  at  his  apparent  inactivity  after  the  battle.  He 
probably  expected  that  so  brilliant  a  success  would  immediately 
produce  a  general  rising  among  the  nations  of  Italy,  and  remained 
for  a  time  quietly  in  Apulia,  until  they  should  have  had  time  to 
declare  themselves.  Nor  were  his  hopes  disappointed ;  the  Hirpin- 
ians,  all  the  Samnites  (except  the  Pentrian  tribe),  and  almost  all 
the  Apulians,  Lucanians,  and  Bruttiana,  declared  in  favor  of  Car- 


B.C.  218-216.  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR:  FIRST  PERIOD.  89 

thagc.  But,  though  the  whole  of  the  south  of  Italy  was  thus  appa- 
rently lost  to  the  Romans,  yet  the  effect  of  this  insurrection  was 
not  so  decisive  as  it  would  at  first  appear ;  for  the  Latin  colonies, 
which  still,  without  exception,  remained  faithful,  gave  the  Romans 
a  powerful  hold  upon  the  revolted  provinces ;  and  the  Greek  cities 
on  the  coast,  though  mostly  disposed  to  join  the  Carthaginians, 
were  restrained  by  the  presence  of  Roman  garrisons.  Hence  it  bc- 
"came  necessary  to  support  the  insurrection  in  the  different  parts 
of  Italy  with  a  Carthaginian  force.  Hannibal  marched  first  into 


Route  of  Hannibal.    (See  p.  90.) 

Samnium,  and  from  thence  into  Campania,  where  he  obtained  pos- 
session of  the  important  city  of  Capua,  the  gates  of  which  were 
opened  to  him  by  the  popular  party.  Here  he  established  his 
army  in  winter  quarters.  Thus  ends  the  first  period  of  the  war,  in 
which  Hannibal  had  met  with  uninterrupted  success.  Three  great 
victories  in  three  years,  followed  by  the  revolt  of  a  city  scarcely 
inferior  to  Rome  itself  in  importance,  seemed  to  promise  a  speedy 
termination  of  the  war. 


90 


HISTORY  OF  HOME. 


CHAP.  XII. 


NOTE  ON  HANNIBAL'S  PASSAGE  ACROSS  THE  ALPS. 


(Sec  p.  84) 


The  narrative  in  the  text  id  taken 
from  tliat  of  the  Greek  historian  Polyb- 
ius,  which  is  certainly  by  far  the  most 
trustworthy  that  has  descended  to  us ; 
but  that  author  has  nowhere  clearly 
stated  by  which  of  the  passes  across 
the  Alp?  Hannibal  effected  his  march ; 
nnd  this  question  has  given  rise  to 
much  controversy  b.ith  in  ancient  and 
modern  time?.  Into  this  discussion 
our  limits  will  not  allow  us  to  enter, 
but  the  following  may  be  briefly  stated 
as  the  general  results :  1.  That  after 
a  careful  examination  of  the  text  of 
Polybius,  and  comparison  of  the  dif- 
ferent localities,  his  narrative  will  be 
found,  on  the  whole,  to  agree  best  with 
the  supposition  that  Hannibal  crossed 
the  Graian  Alps,  or  Little  St.  Rernard ; 
though  it  can  not  be  denied  that  there 
are  some  difficulties  attending  this 
line,  especially  in  regard  to  the  descent 
into  Italy.  2.  That  Cscliua  Antipater 
certainly  represented  him  as  taking 
this  route  (Liv.,  xxi.,  3S) ;  and  as  he 
is  known  to  have  followed  the  Greek 
history  of  Silenus,  who  is  said  to  have 
accompanied  Hannibal  in  many  of  his 
campaigns,  his  authority  is  of  the 
greatest  weight.  3.  That  Livy  and 
Strabo,  on  the  contrary,  both  suppose 
him  to  have  crossed  the  Cottian  Alps, 
or  Mont  Genevre.  But  the  main  ar- 
gument that  appeare  to  have  weighed 
with  Livy,  as  it  has  done  with  several 
modern  writers  on  the  subject,  is  the 
assumption  that  Hannibal  descended 
in  the  first  instance  into  the  country 
of  the  Taurinians,  which  i*  opposed 


to  the  direct  testimony  of  I'olybius, 
who  says  expressly  that  he  det-wnded 
among  the  Insubriaus,  and  xubs>  qucnt- 
ly  mentions  his  attack  on  the  Taurin- 
ians. 4.  That,  as  according  to  Livy 
himself  (xxi.,  29),  the  Gaulish  emissa- 
ries who  acted  as  Hannibal's  guides 
were  Boians,  it  was  natural  that  these 
should  conduct  him  by  the  passage 
that  led  directly  into  the  territory  of 
their  allies  and  brothers-in-arms,  the 
Instibrians,  rather  than  into  that  of 
the  Taurinians,  a  Ligurian  tribe,  who 
were  at  this  very  time  in  a  state  of 
hostility  with  the  Insubrians.  And 
this  remark  will  serve  to  explain  why 
Hannibal  chose  apparently  a  longer 
route,  instead  of  the  more  direct  one 
of  Mont  Genevre.  Lastly,  it  is  remark- 
able that  I'olybius,  though  he  censures 
the  exaggerations  and  absurdities  with 
which  earlier  writers  had  encumbered 
their  narrative,  does  not  intimate  that 
any  doubt  was  entertained  as  to  the 
line  of  march ;  and  I'ompey,  in  a  letter 
to  the  Senate,  written  in  73  it.c.,  al- 
ludes to  the  route  of  Hannibal  across 
the  Alps  as  something  well  known. 
Hence  it  appears  clear  that  the  passage 
by  which  he  crossed  them  must  have 
been  one  of  those  frequented  in  subse- 
quent times  by  the  Romans.  This  argu- 
ment seems  decisive  against  the  cl.-iims 
of  Mnnt  Cenif,  which  have  been  advo- 
cated by  some  modern  writers,  that  pass 
having  apparently  never  been  used  till 
the  Middle  Ages — Sec  Diet,  of  Greek 
nnd  Itaman  liiography,  vol.  ii.,  p.  334, 
335, 


Plain  of  Cannas. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SECOND  PUNIC  WAR  :    SECOND  PERIOD,  FROM  THE  REVOLT  OF  CAPUA 
TO   THE    BATTLE   OF   THE    METAURUS.       B.C.  215-207. 

CAPUA  was  celebrated  for  its  wealth  and  luxury,  and  the  ener- 
vating effect  which  these  produced  upon  the  army  of  Hannibal  be- 
came a  favorite  theme  of  rhetorical  exaggeration  in  later  ages. 
The  futility  of  such  declamations  is  sufficiently  shown  by  the  sim- 
ple fact  that  the  superiority  of  that  army  in  the  field  remained  as 
decided  as  ever.  Still  it  may  be  truly  said  that  the  winter  spent 
at  Capua  (B.C.  216-215)  was  in  great  measure  the  turning-point  of 
Hannibal's  fortune,  and  from  this  time  the  war  assumed  an  altered 
character.  The  experiment  of  what  he  could  effect  with  his  single 
army  had  now  been  fully  tried,  and,  notwithstanding  all  his  victo- 
ries, it  had  decidedly  failed ;  for  Rome  was  still  unsubdued,  and 
still  provided  with  the  means  of  maintaining  a  protracted  contest. 
But  Hannibal  had  not  relied  on  his  own  forces  alone,  and  he  now 
found  himself,  apparently  at  least,  in  a  condition  to  commence  the 
execution  of  his  long-cherished  plan — that  of  arming  Italy  itself 
against  the  Romans,  and  crushing  the  ruling  power  by  means  of 
her  own  subjects.  It  was  to  this  object  that  his  attention  was 
henceforth  mainly  directed.  From  this  time,  also,  the  Romans 


92  HISTORY  OF  EOME.  CIIAI-.  XIII. 

changed  their  plan  of  operations,  and,  instead  of  opposing  to  Han- 
nibal one  great  army  in  the  field,  they  hemmed  in  his  movements 
on  all  sides,  guarded  all  the  most  important  towns  with  strong 
garrisons,  and  kept  up  an  army  in  every  province  of  Italy  to  thwart 
the  operations  of  his  lieutenants  and  check  the  rising  disposition  to 
revolt.  It  is  impossible  here  to  follow  in  detail  the  complicated 
operations  of  the  subsequent  campaigns,  during  which  Hannibal 
himself  frequently  traversed  Italy  in  all  directions,  appearing  sud- 
denly wherever  his  presence  was  called  for,  and  astonishing  and 
often  baffling  the  enemy  by  the  rapidity  of  his  marches.  All  that 
we  can  do  is  to  notice  very  briefly  the  leading  events  which  distin- 
guished each  successive  campaign. 

The  campaign  of  B.C.  215  was  not  marked  by  any  decisive  events. 
The  Consuls  were  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  (whose  plan  of  conducting 
the  war  had  been  fully  vindicated  by  the  terrible  defeat  of'Canna;) 
and  Tiberius  Sempronius  Gracchus.  With  the  advance  of  spring 
Hannibal  took  up  his  camp  on  Mount  Tifata,  where,  while  await- 
ing the  arrival  of  re-enforcements  from  Carthage,  he  was  at  hand 
to  support  his  partisans  in  Campania  and  oppose  the  Roman  gen- 
erals in  that  province.  But  his  attempts  on  Cuma?  and  Neapolis 
were  foiled,  and  even  after  he  had  been  joined  by  a  force  from 
Carthage  (very  inferior,  however,  to  what  he  had  expected),  he  sus- 
tained a  repulse  before  Nola,  which  was  magnified  by  the  Romans 
into  a  defeat.  As  the  winter  approached  he  withdrew  into  Apu- 
lia, and  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  plains  around  Arpi.  But  oth- 
er prospects  were  already  opening  before  him.  In  his  camp  on 
Tifata  he  had  received  embassies  from  Philip,  king  of  Macedon,  and 
Hieronymus  of  Syracuse,  both  of  which  he  had  eagerly  welcomed, 
and  thus  sowed  the  seeds  of  two  fresh  wars,  and  raised  up  two 
formidable  enemies  against  the  Roman  power. 

These  two  collateral  wars  in  some  degree  drew  off  the  attention 
of  both  parties  from  that  in  Italy  itself;  yet  the  Romans  still  op- 
posed to  the  Carthaginian  general  a  chain  of  armies  which  fetter- 
ed all  his  operations  ;  and  though  Hannibal  was  ever  on  the  watch 
for  the  opportunity  of  striking  a  blow,  the  campaign  of  B.C.  214 
was  still  less  decisive  thar.  ihat  of  the  preceding  year.  Fabius  was 
,-again  elected  Consul,  and  Marcellus  was  appointed  his  colleague. 
Early  in  the  summer  Hannibal  advanced  from  Apulia  to  his  former 
station  on  Mount  Tifata  to  watch  over  the  safety  of  Capua ;  from 
thence  he  had  descended  to  the  Lake  Avernus,  in  hopes  of  mak- 
ing himself  master  of  1'uteoli,  when  a  prospect  was  held  out  to  him 
of  surprising  the  important  city  of  Tarentum.  Thither  he  hasten- 
ed by  forced  marches,  but  arrived  too  late ;  Tarentum  had  been 
secured  by  a  Roman  force.  After  this  his  operations  were  of 


B.C. 2 15-207.  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR:  SECOND  PERIOD.  93 

little  importance,  until  he  again  took  up  his  winter  quarters  in 
Apulia. 

During  the  following  summer  (B.C.  213),  while  all  eyes  were 
turned  toward  the  war  in  Sicily,  Hannibal  remained  almost  wholly 
inactive  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tarentum,  the  hopes  he  still  enter- 
tained of  making  himself  master  of  that  important  city  rendering 
him  unwilling  to  quit  that  quarter  of  Italy.  Before  the  close  of 
the  ensuing  winter  he  was  rewarded  with  the  long-looked-for  prize, 
and  Tarentum  was  betrayed  into  his  hands  by  two  of  its  citizens. 
The  advantage,  however,  was  incomplete,  for  a  Roman  garrison 
still  held  possession  of  the  citadel,  from  which  he  was  unable  to 
dislodge  them.  The  next  year  (is.c.  212)  was  marked  by  import- 
ant events  in  Sicily  and  Spain,  to  which  we  must  now  direct  our 
attention. 

Hiero,  so  long  the  faithful  ally  of  Rome,  died  shortly  after  the 
battle  of  Cannae  (H.C.  216),  and  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson 
Hieronymus,  a  vain  youth,  who  abandoned  the  alliance  of  Rome 
for  that  of  Carthage.  But  he  was  assassinated  after  a  reign  of  fif- 
teen months,  and  a  republican  form  of  government  was  established 
in  Syracuse.  A  contest  ensued  between  the  Roman  and  Cartha- 
ginian parties  in  Syracuse,  but  the  former  ultimately  prevailed, 
and  Epicydes  and  Hippocrates,  two  brothers  whom  Hannibal  had 
sent  to  Syracuse  to  espouse  his  interests,  had  to  quit  the  city,  and 
took  refuge  at  Leontini.  Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  the 
Consul  Marcellus  arrived  in  Sicily  (B.C.  214).  He  forthwith  march- 
ed against  Leontini,  which  Epicydes  and  Hippocrates  defended 
with  a  considerable  force.  He  took  the  city  by  storm,  and,  though 
he  spared  the  inhabitants,  executed  in  cold  blood  2000  Roman  de- 
serters whom  he  found  among  the  troops  that  had  formed  the  gar- 
rison. This  sanguinary  act  at  once  alienated  the  minds  of  the  Si- 
cilians, and  alarmed  the  mercenary  troops  in  the  service  of  Syra- 
cuse. The  latter  immediately  joined  Hippocrates  and  Epicydes. 
who  had  made  their  escape  to  Herbessus ;  the  gates  of  Syracuse 
were  opened  to  them  by  their  partisans  within  the  walls,  and  the 
party  hostile  to  Rome  was  thus  established  in  the  undisputed 
command  of  that  city.  Marcellus  now  appeared  before  Syracuse 
at  the  head  of  his  army,  and,  after  a  fruitless  summons  to  the  in- 
habitants, proceeded  to  lay  siege  to  the  city  both  by  sea  and  land. 
His  attacks  were  vigorous  and  unremitting,  and  were  directed  es- 
pecially against  the  quarter  of  Achradina*  from  the  side  of  the  sea; 
but,  though  he  brought  many  powerful  military  engines  against  the 
walls,  these  were  rendered  wholly  unavailing  by  the  superior  skill 
and  science  of  Archimedes,  which  were  employed  on  the  side  of 
•  Fee  the  nntp  in  the  "Smaller  History  of  Greece,"  p.  117. 


94  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XIH 

the  besieged.  All  the  efforts  of  the  assailants  were  baffled ;  anci 
the  Roman  soldiers  were  inspired  with  so  great  a  dread  of  Ar- 
chimedes and  his  engines,*  that  Marcellus  was  compelled  to  give 
up  all  hopes  of  carrying  the  city  by  open  force,  and  to  turn  the 
siege  into  a  blockade.  The  siege  was  prolonged  far  on  into  the 
summer  of  B.C.  212,  nor  did  there  appear  any  prospect  of  its  term- 
ination, as  the  communications  of  the  besieged  by  sea  were  al- 
most entirely  open.  In  this  state  of  things  Marcellus  fortunately 
discovered  a  part  of  the  walls  more  accessible  than  the  rest ;  and, 
having  prepared  scaling  ladders,  effected  an  entrance  at  this  point 
during  the  night  which  followed  a  great  festival,  and  thus  made 
himself  master  of  Epipoke.  The  two  quarters  called  Tyche  and 
Ncapolis  were  now  at  his  mercy,  and  were  given  up  to  plunder; 
but  Epicydes  still  held  the  island-citadel  and  the  important  quar- 
ter of  Achradinn,  which  formed  two  separate  and  strong  fortresses. 
Marcellus,  however,  made  himself  master  of  the  fort  of  Euryalus, 
and  had  closely  invested  Achradina,  when  the  Carthaginian  army 
under  Ilimilco  and  Hippocrates  advanced  to  the  relief  of  the  city. 
Their  efforts  were,  however,  in  vain ;  all  their  attacks  on  the  camp 
of  Marcellus  were  repulsed,  and  they  were  unable  to  effect  a  junc- 
tion with  Epicydes  and  the  Syracusan  garrison.  The  unhealthi- 
ness  of  the  country  soon  gave  rise  to  a  pestilence  which  earned  off 
both  the  Carthaginian  generals  and  led  to  the  entire  break-up  of 
the  army.  Shortly  afterward  the  treachery  of  a  leader  of  Spanish 
mercenaries  in  the  Syracusan  service  opened  to  Marcellus  the  gates 
of  Achradina,  and  in  the  general  attack  that  ensued  he  made  him- 
self master  of  the  island  of  Ortygia  also.  The  city  was  given  up 
to  plunder,  and  Archimedes  was  slain  by  a  Roman  soldier,  being  so 
intent  upon  a  mathematical  problem  at  the  time  that  he  did  not 
answer  a  question  that  was  asked  him.  He  was  deeply  regretted 
by  Marcellus,  who  gave  orders  for  his  burial,  and  befriended  his 
surviving  relatives.! 

The  booty  found  in  the  captured  city  was  immense :  besides  the 
money  in  the  royal  treasury,  which  was  set  apart  for  the  coffers  of 
the  state,  Marcellus  carried  off  many  of  the  works  of  art  with  which 
the  city  had  been  adorned,  to  grace  his  own  triumph  and  the  tem- 
ples at  Rome.  This  was  the  first  instance  of  a  practice  which  after- 
ward became  so  general ;  and  it  gave  great  offense  not  only  to  the 
Greeks  of  Sicily,  but  to  a  large  party  at  Rome  itself. 

*  The  slory  that  Archimedes  set  the  Roman  ships  on  fire  by  the  reflected  rayg 
of  the  sun  id  probably  a  fiction,  though  later  writers  give  an  account  of  this  burn- 
ing mirror. 

t  Upon  his  tomb  was  placed  the  figure  of  a  sphere  inscribed  in  a  cylinder. 
When  Cicero  was  Quaestor  in  Sicily  (n.o.  75),  he  found  his  tomb  near  one  of  the 
gates  of  the  city,  almost  hid  among  brier*,  and  forgotten  by  the  Syracu?ann. 


B.C.  215-207.  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR,  SECOND  PERIOD.  95 

The  fall  of  Syracuse  was  followed,  though  not  immediately,  by 
the  subjugation  of  the  whole  island  by  the  Romans  ;  but  these  suc- 
cesses were  counterbalanced  by  the  defeat  and  death  of  the  two 
Scipios  in  Spain.  We  have  already  seen  that  P.  Scipio,  when  he 
landed  at  Massilia  and  found  himself  unable  to  overtake  Hannibal 
in  Gaul,  sent  his  brother  Cneius  with  the  army  into  Spain,  while 
he  himself  returned  to  Italy.  In  the  following  year  (B.C.  217} 
Publius  himself  crossed  over  into  Spain,  where  he  found  that  his 
brother  had  already  obtained  a  firm  footing.  They  continued  in 
Spain  for  several  years,  during  which  they  gained  many  victories, 
and  prevented  Hasdrubal  from  marching  into  Italy  to  support  his 
victorious  brother.  When  Hasdrubal  was  recalled  to  Africa  to 
oppose  Syphax,  one  of  the  Numidian  kings,  who  was  carrying  on 
war  against  Carthage,  the  Scipios  availed  themselves  of  his  absence 
to  strengthen  their  power  still  farther.  They  gained  over  new 
tribes  to  the  Roman  cause,  took  20,000  Ccltiberians  into  their  pay, 
and  felt  themselves  so  strong  in  B.C.  212  that  they  resolved  to 
cross  the  Iberus  and  to  make  a  vigorous  effort  to  drive  the  Cartha- 
ginians out  of  Spain.  They  accordingly  divided  their  forces;  but 
the  result  was  fatal.  Publius  was  destroyed,  with  the  greater  part 
of  his  troops ;  and  Cneius  was  also  defeated,  and  fell  in  battle, 
twenty-nine  days  after  the  death  of  his  brother.  These  victories 
seemed  to  establish  the  superiority  of  Carthage  in  Spain,  and  open 
the  way  for  Hasdrubal  to  join  his  brother  in  Italy. 

In  Italy  (B.C.  212)  the  two  Consuls  Appius  Claudius  and  Q.  Ful- 
vius  began  to  draw  together  their  forces  for  the  purpose  of  besieg- 
ing Capua.  Hannibal  advanced  to  relieve  it,  and  compelled  the 
Consuls  to  withdraw ;  but  he  was  unable  to  force  either  of  them 
to  fight.  Shortly  afterward  he  returned  again  to  the  south  to  urge 
on  the  siege  of  the  citadel  of  Tarentum,  which  still  held  out ;  and 
he  spent  the  winter  and  the  whole  of  the  ensuing  spring  (B.C.  211) 
in  its  immediate  neighborhood.  But  during  his  absence  the  Con- 
suls had  renewed  the  siege  of  Capua,  and  prosecuted  it  with  such 
activity,  that  they  had  succeeded  in  surrounding  the  city  with  a 
double  line  of  intrenchments.  The  pressing  danger  once  more  sum- 
moned Hannibal  to  its  relief.  He  accordingly  presented  himself 
before  the  Roman  camp,  and  attacked  their  lines  from  without, 
while  the  garrison  co-operated  with  him  by  a  vigorous  sally  from 
the  walls.  Both  attacks  were  however  repulsed,  and  Hannibal, 
foiled  in  his  attempt  to  raise  the  siege  by  direct  means,  determined 
on  the  bold  manoeuvre  of  marching  directly  upon  Rome  itself,  in 
hopes  of  thus  compelling  the  Consuls  to  abandon  their  designs 
upon  Capua,  in  order  to  provide  for  the  defense  of  the  city.  But 
this  daring  scheme  was  again  frustrated ;  the  appearance  of  Hanni' 


<>(>  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XIII. 

b:il  before  the  gates  of  Rome  for  a  moment  struck  terror  through 
the  city  ;  but  a  considerable  body  of  troops  was  at  the  time  within 
the  walls ;  and  the  Consul  Fulvius,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  Hanni- 
bal's march,  hastened,  with  a  portion  of  the  besieging  army,  from 
Capua,  while  he  still  left  with  the  other  Consul  a  force  amply  suf- 
ficient to  carry  on  the  siege.  Hannibal  was  thus  disappointed  in 
the  main  object  of  his  advance,  and  he  had  no  means  of  effecting 
any  thing  against  Rome  itself,  where  Fulvius  and  Fabius  confined 
themselves  strictly  to  the  defensive,  allowing  him  to  ravage  the 
whole  country  without  opposition,  up  to  the  very  walls  of  Rome. 
Nothing  therefore  remained  for  him  but  to  retreat,  and  he  accord- 
ingly rccrossed  the  Anio,  and  marched  slowly  and  sullenly  through 
the  land  of  the  Sabines  and  Samnites,  ravaging  the  country  which 
he  traversed.  From  thence  he  retired  to  the  Bruttii,  leaving  Capua 
to  its  fate.  The  city  soon  after  surrendered  to  the  Romans.  Its 
punishment  was  terrible.  All  the  leaders  of  the  insurrection  were 
beheaded ;  the  chief  men  were  imprisoned ;  and  the  rest  of  the 
people  were  sold.  The  city  and  its  territory  were  confiscated,  and 
became  part  of  the  Roman  domain. 

The  commencement  of  the  next  season  (B.C.  210)  was  marked 
by  the  fall  of  Salapia,  which  was  betrayed  by  the  inhabitants  to 
Marcellus ;  but  this  loss  was  soon  avenged  by  the  total  defeat  and 
destruction  of  the  army  of  the  Proconsul  Cn.  Fulvius  at  Hcrdonea. 
The  Consul  Marcellus,  on  his  part,  carefully  avoided  an  action  for 
the  rest  of  the  campaign,  while  he  harassed  his  opponent  by  every 
possible  means.  Thus  the  rest  of  that  summer  too  wore  away 
without  any  important  results.  But  this  state  of  comparative  in- 
activity was  necessarily  injurious  to  the  cause  of  Hannibal ;  the 
nations  of  Italy  that  had  espoused  that  cause  when  triumphant 
now  began  to  waver  in  their  attachment ;  and  in  the  course  of  the 
following  summer  (B.C.  209)  the  Samnites  and  Lucanians  submit- 
ted to  Rome,  and  were  admitted  to  favorable  terms.  A  still  more 
disastrous  blow  to  the  Carthaginian  cause  was  the  loss  of  Taren- 
tum,  which  was  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  Fabius,  as  it  had  been 
into  those  of  Hannibal.  In  vain  did  the  latter  seek  to  draw  the 
Roman  general  into  a  snare ;  the  wary  Fabius  eluded  his  toils. 
The  recovery  of  Tarentum  was  the  last  exploit  in  the  military  life 
of  the  aged  Fabius,  and  was  a  noble  completion  to  his  long  list  of 
achievements.  From  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Canna;  he  had  di- 
rected almost  exclusively  the  councils  of  his  country,  and  his  policy 
had  been  pre-eminently  successful ;  but  the  times  now  demanded 
bolder  measures,  and  something  else  was  necessary  than  the  cau- 
tion of  the  Lingerer  to  bring  the  war  to  a  close. 

After  the  fall  of  Tarentum  Hannibal  still  traverse;!  the  open 


B.C.  215-207.  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR:  SECOND  PEIUOD.  9? 

country  unopposed,  and  laid  waste  the  territories  of  his  enemies. 
Yet  we  can  not  suppose  that  he  any  longer  looked  for  ultimate  suc- 
cess from  any  efforts  of  his  own;  his  object  was  doubtless  now  only 
to  maintain  his  ground  in  the  south  until  his  brother  Hasdrubal 
should  appear  in  the  north  of  Italy,  an  event  to  which  he  had  long 
anxiously  looked  forward.  Yet  the  following  summer  (B.C.  208) 
was  marked  by  some  brilliant  achievements.  The  two  Consuls, 
Crispinus  and  Marcellus,  who  were  opposed  to  Hannibal  in  Luca- 
nia.  allowed  themselves  to  be  led  into  an  ambush,  in  which  Mar- 
cellus was  killed,  and  Crispinus  mortally  wounded.  Marcellus  wag 
one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Roman  generals.  Hannibal  displayed  a 
generous  sympathy  for  his  fate,  and  caused  due  honors  to  be  paid 
to  his  remains. 

The  following  year  (B.C.  207)  decided  the  issue  of  the  war  in 
Italy.  The  war  in  Spain  during  the  last  few  years  had  been  car- 
ried on  with  brilliant  success  by  the  young  P.  Scipio,  of  whose  ex- 
ploits we  shall  speak  presently.  But  in  B.C.  208,  Hasdrubal,  leav- 
ing the  two  other  Carthaginian  generals  to  make  head  against 
Scipio,  resolved  to  set  out  for  Italy  to  the  assistance  of  his  brother. 
As  Scipio  was  in  undisputed  possession  of  the  province  north  of 
the  Iberus,  and  had  secured  the  passes  of  the  Pyrenees  on  that 
side,  Hasdrubal  crossed  these  mountains  near  their  western  ex- 
tremity, and  plunged  into  the  heart  of  Gaul.  After  spending  a 
winter  in  that  country,  he  prepared  to  cross  the  Alps  in  the  spring 
of  B.C.  207,  and  to  descend  into  Italy.  The  two  Consuls  for  this 
year  were  C.  Claudius  Nero  and  M.  Livius.  Nero  marched  into 
Southern  Italy  to  keep  a  watch  upon  Hannibal ;  Livius  took  up 
his  quarters  at  Ariminum  to  oppose  Hasdrubal.  The  latter  ex- 
perienced little  loss  or  difficulty  in  crossing  the  Alps.  The  season 
of  the  year  was  favorable,  and  the  Gauls  were  friendly  to  his  cause. 
But  instead  of  pushing  on  at  once  into  the  heart  of  Italy,  he  allow- 
ed himself  to  be  engaged  in  the  siege  of  Placentia,  and  lost  much 
precious  time  in  fruitless  efforts  to  reduce  that  colony.  When  at 
length  he  abandoned  the  enterprise,  he  sent  messengers  to  Hanni- 
bal to  apprize  him  of  his  movements,  and  concert  measures  for 
their  meeting  in  Umbria.  But  his  dispatches  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Consul  Nero,  who  formed  the  bold  resolution  of  instantly 
marching  with  a  picked  body  of  7000  men  to  join  his  colleague, 
and  fall  upon  Hasdrubal  with  their  united  forces  before  Hannibal 
could  receive  any  information  of  his  brother's  movements.  Nero 
executed  his  design  with  equal  secrecy  and  rapidity.  Hannibal 
knew  nothing  of  his  departure,  and  in  a  week's  time  Nero  marched 
250  miles  to  Sena,  where  his  colleague  was  encamped  in  presence 
of  Hasdrubal.  He  entered  the  camp  of  Livius  in  the  night,  that 

G 


«8  HISTOKY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  Xllt 

his  arrival  might  not  be  known  to  the  Carthaginians.  After  a 
day's  rest  the  two  Consuls  proceeded  to  offer  battle ;  but  Hasdru- 
bal, perceiving  the  augmented  numbers  of  the  Romans,  and  hear- 
ing the  trumpet  sound  twice,  felt  convinced  that  the  Consuls  had 
unitod  their  forces,  and  that  his  brother  had  been  defeated.  He 
therefore  declined  the  combat,  and  in  the  following  night  com- 
menced his  retreat  toward  Ariminum.  The  Romans  pursued  him, 
and  he  found  himself  compelled  to  give  them  battle  on  the  right 
banktof  the  Metaurus.  On  this  occasion  Hasdrubal  displayed  all 
the  qualities  of  a  consummate  general ;  but  his  forces  were  great- 
ly inferior  to  those  of  the  enemy,  and  his  Gaulish  auxiliaries  were 
of  little  sen-ice.  The  gallant  resistance  of  the  Spanish  and  Ligu- 
rian  troops  is  attested  by  the  heavy  loss  of  the  Romans  ,•  but  all 
was  of  no  avail,  and  seeing  the  battle  irretrievably  lost,  he  rushed 
into  the  midst  of  the  enemy,  and  fell,  sword  in  hand,  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  the  son  of  Hamilcar  and  the  brother  of  Hannibal.  The 
Consul  Nero  hastened  back  to  Apulia  almost  as  speedily  as  he  had 
come,  and  announced  to  Hannibal  the  defeat  and  death  of  his 
brother  by  throwing  into  his  camp  the  severed  head  of  Hasdrubal. 
"I  recognize,"  said  Hannibal,  sadly,  "the  doom  of  Carthage." 

The  victory  of  the  Metaurus  was,  as  we  have  already  said,  deci- 
sive of  the  fate  of  the  war  in  Italy,  and  the  conduct  of  Hannibal 
shows  that  he  felt  it  to  be  such.  From  this  time  he  abandoned  all 
thoughts  of  offensive  operations,  and,  withdrawing  his  garrisons 
from  Metapontum  and  other  towns  that  he  still  held  in  Lucania, 
collected  together  his  forces  within  the  peninsula  of  the  Bruttii.  In 
the  fastnesses  of  that  wild  and  mountainous  region  he  maintained 
his  ground  for  nearly  four  years,  while  the  towns  that  he  still  pos- 
sessed on  the  coast  gave  him  the  command  of  the  sea. 


Hannibal. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

SECOND   PUNIC  WAR.       THIRD  PERIOD  :    FROM  THE  BATTLE   OP  THE 
METAURUS    TO   THE    CONCLUSION   OF   THE   WAR.       B.C.  206-201. 

AFTER  the  battle  of  the  Metaurus,  the  chief  interest  of  the  war 
was  transferred  to  Spain  and  Africa.  The  Roman  armies  were  led 
by  a  youthful  hero,  perhaps  the  greatest  man  that  Rome  ever  pro- 
duced, with  the  exception  of  Julius  Caesar.  The  remaining  period 
of  the  war  is  little  more  than  the  history  of  P.  Scipio.  This  ex- 
traordinary man  was  the  son  of  P.  Scipio,  who  fell  in  Spain  in  B.C. 
212,  as  already  related.  In  his  early  years  he  acquired,  to  an  ex- 
traordinary extent,  the  confidence  and  admiration  of  his  country- 
men. His  enthusiastic  mind  led  him  to  believe  that  he  was  a 
special  favorite  of  heaven ;  and  he  never  engaged  in  and  public  or 
private  business  without  first  going  to  the  Capitol,  where  he  sat 
some  time  alone,  enjoying  communion  with  the  gods.  For  all  he 
proposed  or  executed  he  alleged  the  divine  approval :  he  believed 
himself  in  the  revelations  which  he  asserted  had  been  vouchsafed 
to  him  ;  and  the  extraordinary  success  which  attended  all  his  en- 
terprises deepened  this  belief. 

P.  Scipio  is  first  mentioned  in  B.C.  218  at  the  battle  of  the  TicI- 
nus,  where  he  is  reported  to  have  saved  the  life  of  his  father,  though 
he  was  then  only  17  years  of  age.  He  fought  at  Cannae  two  years 
afterward  (B.C.  210),  when  he  was  already  a  tribune  of  the  soldiers, 
and  was  one  of  the  few  Roman  officers  who  survived  that  fatal 


100  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XIV. 

day.  He  was  chosen  along  with  Appius  Claudius  to  command  the 
remains  of  the  army,  which  had  taken  refuge  at  Canusium ;  and 
it  was  owing  to  his  youthful  heroism  and  presence  of  mind  that 
the  Roman  nobles,  who  had  thought  of  leaving  Italy  in  despair, 
were  prevented  from  carrying  their  rash  project  into  effect.  Ho 
had  already  gained  the  favor  of  the  people  to  such  an  extent  that 
he  was  unanimously  elected  JEdile  in  B.C.  212.  On  this  occasion 
he  gave  indications  of  the  proud  spirit,  and  of  the  disregard  of  all 
the  forms  of  law,  which  distinguished  him  throughout  life ;  for 
when  the  tribunes  objected  to  the  election,  because  he  was  not  of 
the  legal  age,  he  haughtily  replied, ' '  If  all  the  Quiritcs  wish  to 
make  me  JEdile,  I  am  old  enough."  After  the  death  of  Scipio's 
father  and  uncle,  C.  Nero  was  sent  out  as  Proprastor  to  supply  their 
place ;  but  shortly  afterward  the  Senate  resolved  to  increase  the 
army  in  Spain,  and  to  place  it  under  the  command  of  a  Proconsul 
to  be  elected  by  the  people.  But  when  they  were  assembled  for 
this  purpose,  none  of  the  generals  of  experience  ventured  to  apply 
for  so  dangerous  a  command  At  length  Scipio,  who  was  then 
barely  twenty-four,  to  the  surprise  of  every  one,  offered  himself  as 
a  candidate.  But  the  confidence  which  he  felt  in  himself  he  com- 
municated to  the  people,  and  he  was  accordingly  chosen  with  en- 
thusiasm to  take  the  command. 

Scipio  arrived  in  Spain  in  the  summer  of  B.C.  210.  He  found 
that  the  three  Carthaginian  generals,  Hasdrubal,  son  of  Barca.  Has- 
drubal,  son  of  Gisco,  and  Mago,  were  not  on  good  terms,  and  were 
at  the  time  engaged  in  separate  enterprises  in  distant  parts  of  the 
peninsula.  Instead  of  attacking  any  of  them  singly,  he  formed 
the  project  of  striking  a  deadly  blow  at  the  Carthaginian  power  by 
a  snddcn  and  unexpected  attack  upon  New  Carthage.  He  gave 
the  command  of  the  fleet  to  his  intimate  friend  Laelius,  to  whom 
alone  he  intrusted  the  secret  of  the  expedition,  while  he  led  the 
land-forces  by  extremely  rapid  marches  against  the  city.  The 
project  was  crowned  with  complete  success.  The  Carthaginian 
garrison  did  not  amount  to  more  than  a  thousand  men,  and  before 
any  succor  could  arrive  New  Carthage  was  taken  by  assault.  The 
hostages  who  had  been  given  by  the  various  Spanish  tribes  to  the 
Carthaginians  had  been  placed  for  security  in  the  city.  These 
now  fell  into  the  hands  of  Scipio,  who  treated  them  with  kindness ; 
and  the  hostages  of  those  people  who  declared  themselves  in  favor 
of  the  Romans  were  restored  without  ransom.  Scipio  also  found 
in  New  Carthage  magazines  of  arms,  corn,  and  other  necessaries, 
for  the  Carthaginians  had  there  deposited  their  principal  stores. 

The  immediate  effects  of  this  brilliant  success  were  immense. 
Many  of  the  Spanish  tribes  deserted  the  Carthaginian  cause ;  and 


B.C.20G-201.  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR;  THIRD  PERIOD.  101 

when  Scipio  took  the  field  in  the  following  year  (B.C.  209)  Mando- 
nius  and  Indibilis,  two  of  the  most  powerful  and  hitherto  the  most 
faithful  supporters  of  Carthage,  quitted  the  camp  of  Hasdrubal 
Barca,  and  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  Roman  commander.  Has- 
drubal was  encamped  in  a  strong  position  near  the  town  of  Ba;cu- 
la,  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Bajtis  (Guadalquiver),  where  he  was 
attacked  and  defeated  by  Scipio.  He  succeeded,  however,  in  mak- 
"ing  good  his  retreat,  and  retired  into  northern  Spain.  He  subse- 
quently crossed  the  Pyrenees,  and  marched  into  Italy  to  the  assist- 
ance of  his  brother  Hannibal,  as  already  narrated. 

In  B.C.  207  Scipio  gained  possession  of  nearly  the  whole  of  Spain, 
by  a  decisive  victory  near  a  place  variously  called  Silpia  or  Elinga, 
but  the  position  of  which  is  quite  uncertain. 

Hasdrubal,  son  of  Gisco,  and  Mago,  took  refuge  within  the  walls 
of  Gades,  which  was  almost  the  only  place  that  now  belonged  to 
the  Carthaginians ;  and  all  the  native  chiefs  hastened  to  acknowl- 
edge the  supremacy  of  Rome.  But  the  victories  of  Scipio  had  had 
but  a  small  share  in  winning  Spain.  His  personal  influence  had 
won  far  more  people  than  his  arms  had  conquered.  He  had  gain- 
ed such  an  ascendency  over  the  Spaniards  by  his  humanity  and 
courage,  his  courtesy  and  energy,  that  they  were  ready  to  lay  down 
their  lives  for  him,  and  wished  to  make  him  their  king. 

The  subjugation  of  Spain  was  regarded  by  Scipio  as  only  a  means 
to  an  end.  He  had  formed  the  project  of  transferring  the  war  to 
Africa,  and  thus  compelling  the  Carthaginians  to  recall  Hannibal 
from  Italy.  He  therefore  resolved,  before  returning  to  Rome,  to 
cross  over  into  Africa,  and  secure,  if  possible,  the  friendship  and 
co-operation  of  some  of  the  native  princes.  His  personal  influence 
had  already  secured  the  attachment  of  Masinissa,  the  son  of  the 
king  of  the  Massylians,  or  Western  Numidians,  who  was  serving 
in  the  Carthaginian  army  in  Spain ;  and  he  trusted  that  the  same 
personal  ascendency  might  gain  the  more  powerful  support  of  Sy- 
phax,  the  king  of  the  Masssesylians,  or  Eastern  Numidians.  With 
only  two  quinqueremes  he  ventured  to  leave  his  province  and  re- 
pair to  the  court  of  Syphax.  There  he  met  his  old  adversary, 
Hasdrnbal,  son  of  Gisco,  who  had  crossed  over  from  Gades  for  the 
same  purpose ;  and  the  two  generals  spent  several  days  together  in 
friendly  intercourse.  Scipio  made  a  great  impression  upon  Sy- 
phax ;  but  the  charms  of  Sophonisba,  the  daughter  of  Hasdrubal, 
whom  the  latter  offered  in  marriage  to  Syphax,  prevailed  over  the 
influence  of  Scipio.  Syphax  married  her,  and  from  that  time  be- 
came the  zealous  supporter  and  ally  of  the  Carthaginians. 

During  Scipio's  absence  in  Africa  a  formidable  insurrection  had 
broken  out  in  Spain ;  but  on  his  return  it  was  speedily  put  down, 


102  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  XIV. 

and  terrible  vengeance  was  inflicted  upon  the  town  of  Illiturgig, 
which  had  taken  the  principal  share  in  the  revolt.  Scarcely  had 
this  danger  passed  away  when  Scipio  was  seized  with  a  dangerous 
illness.  Eight  thousand  of  the  Roman  soldiers,  discontented  with 
not  having  received  their  usual  pay,  availed  themselves  of  this  op- 
portunity to  break  out  into  open  mutiny ;  but  Scipio  quelled  it 
with  his  usual  promptitude  and  energy.  He  crushed  the  last  re- 
mains of  the  insurrection  in  Spain  ;  and  to  crown  his  other  sue-' 
cesses,  Gades  at  last  surrendered  to  the  Romans.  Mago  had  quit- 
ted Spajp,  and  crossed  over  into  Liguria,  to  effect  a  diversion  in 
favor  oPhis  brother  Hannibal,  and  there  was  therefore  now  no 
longer  any  enemy  left  in  Spain. 

Scipio  returned  to  Rome  in  B.C.  206,  and  immediately  offered 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  consulship.  He  was  elected  for  the 
following  year  (B.C.  205)  by  the  unanimous  votes  of  all  the  centu- 
ries, although  he  had  not  yet  filled  the  office  of  Praetor,  and  was 
only  30  years  of  age.  His  colleague  was  P.  Licinius  Crassus,  the 
Pontifex  Maximus,  who  could  not,  therefore,  leave  Italy.  Conse- 
quently, if  the  war  was  to  be  carried  on  abroad,  the  conduct  of  it 
must  of  necessity  devolve  upon  Scipio.  The  latter  was  anxious  to 
land  at  once  in  Africa,  and  bring  the  contest  to  an  end  at  the  gates 
of  Carthage ;  but  the  older  members  of  the  Senate,  and  among 
them  Q.  Fabius  Maximus,  opposed  the  project,  partly  through  ti- 
midity and  partly  through  jealousy  of  the  youthful  conqueror.  All 
that  Scipio  could  obtain  was  the  province  of  Sicily,  with  permission 
to  invade  Africa  if  he  should  think  it  for  the  advantage  of  the  Re- 
public ;  but  the  Senate  resolutely  refused  him  an  army,  thus  mak- 
ing the  permission  of  no  practical  use.  The  allies  had  a  truer 
view  of  the  interests  of  Italy  than  the  Roman  Senate ;  from  all  the 
towns  of  Italy  volunteers  flocked  to  join  the  standard  of  the  youth- 
ful hero.  The  Senate  could  not  refuse  to  allow  him  to  enlist  these 
volunteers ;  and  such  was  the  enthusiasm  in  his  favor  that  he  was 
able  to  cross  over  to  Sicily  with  an  army  and  a  fleet,  contrary  tc  the 
expectations  and  even  the  wishes  of  the  Senate.  While  busy  with 
preparations  in  Sicily,  he  sent  over  La;lius  to  Africa  with  a  small 
fleet  to  concert  a  plan  of  co-operation  with  Masinissa.  But  mean- 
time his  enemies  at  Rome  had  nearly  succeeded  in  depriving  him 
of  his  command.  Although  he  had  no  authority  in  Lower  Italy, 
he  had  assisted  in  the  reduction  of  Locri.  and  after  the  conquest 
of  the  town  had  left  Q.  Pleminius  in  command.  The  latter  had 
been  guilty  of  such  acts  of  excesses  against  the  inhabitants,  that 
they  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  to  complain  of  his  conduct.  Q. 
Fabius  Maximus  eagerly  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  in- 
veigh in  general  against  the  conduct  of  Scipio,  and  to  urge  his  inv 


B.C.  206-201.  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR :  THIRD  PERIOD.   103 

mediate  recall.  Scipio's  magnificent  style  of  living,  and  his  love 
of  Greek  literature  and  art,  were  denounced  by  his  enemies  as  dan- 
gerous innovations  upon  old  Roman  manners  and  frugality.  It 
•was  asserted  that  the  time  which  ought  to  be  given  to  the  exercise 
and  the  training  of  his  troops  was  wasted  in  the  Greek  gymnasia 
or  in  literary  pursuits.  Though  the  Senate  lent  a  willing  ear  to 
these  attacks,  they  did  not  venture  upon  his  immediate  recall,  but 
sent  a  commission  into  Sicily  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  army. 
During  the  winter  Scipio  had  been  busy  in  completing  his  prepara- 
tions ;  and  by  this  time  he  had  collected  all  his  stores,  and  brought 
his  army  and  navy  into  the  most  efficient  state.  The  commission- 
ers were  astonished  at  what  they  saw.  Instead  of  ordering  him 
to  return  to  Rome,  they  bade  him  cross  over  to  Africa  as  soon  as 
possible. 

Accordingly,  in  B.C.  204,  Scipio,  who  was  now  Proconsul,  sailed 
from  Lilybaium  and  landed  in  Africa,  not  far  from  Utica.  He  was 
immediately  joined  by  Masinissa,  who  rendered  him  the  most  im- 
portant services  in  the  war.  He  commenced  the  campaign  by  lay- 
ing siege  to  Utica,  and  took  up  his  quarters  on  a  projecting  head- 
land to  the  east  of  the  town,  on  a  spot  which  long  bore  the  name 
of  the  Cornelian  Camp.  Meantime  the  Carthaginians  had  collect- 
ed n  powerful  army,  which  they  placed  under  the  command  of 
Hasdrubal,  son  of  Gisco,  Scipio's  old  opponent  in  Spain  ;  and  Sy- 
phax  came  to  their  assistance  with  a  great  force. 

In  the  beginning  of  B.C.  203  Scipio  planned  a  night-attack  upon 
the  two  camps  occupied  by  Hasdrubal  and  Syphax.  With  the  as- 
sistance of  Masinissa,  his  enterprise  was  crowned  with  success : 
the  two  camps  were  burned  to  the  ground,  and  only  a  few  of  the 
enemy  escaped  the  fire  and  the  sword.  Among  these,  however, 
were  both  Hasdrubal  and  Syphax ;  the  former  fled  to  Carthage, 
where  lie  persuaded  the  Senate  to  raise  another  army,  and  the  lat- 
ter retreated  to  his  native  dominions,  where  he  likewise  collected 
fresh  troops.  But  their  united  forces  were  again  defeated  by 
Scipio.  Hasdrubal  did  not  venture  to  make  his  appearance  again 
in  Carthage,  and  Syphax  once  more  fled  into  Numidia.  Scipio 
did  not  give  the  Numidian  prince  any  repose ;  he  was  pursued  by 
Lalius  and  Masinissa,  and  finally  taken  prisoner.  Among  the 
captives  who  fell  into  their  hands  was  Sophonisba,  the  wife  of  Sy- 
phax, whom  Masinissa  had  long  loved,  and  had  expected  to  marry 
when  she  was  given  to  his  rival.  Masinissa  now  not  only  promised 
to  preserve  her  from  captivity,  but,  to  prevent  her  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  Romans,  determined  to  marry  her  himself.  Their  nup- 
tials were  accordingly  celebrated  without  delay ;  but  Scipio,  fear- 
ful of  the  influence  which  she  might  exercise  over  his  ally,  sternly 


104  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XIV. 

upbraided  him  with  his  weakness,  and  insisted  on  the  immediate 
surrender  of  the  princess.  Unable  to  resist  this  command,  Masi- 
nissa  spared  her  the  humiliation  of  captivity  by  sending  her  a  bowl 
of  poison,  which  she  drank  without  hesitation,  and  thus  put  an  end 
to  her  own  life. 

These  repeated  disasters  so  alarmed  the  Carthaginians  that  they 
resolved  to  recall  Hannibal  and  Mago.  Hannibal  quitted  Italy  in 
B.C.  203,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  Romans.  For  more  than  15  years 
had  he  carried  on  the  war  in  that  country,  laying  it  waste  from  one 
extremity  to  another ;  and  during  all  this  period  his  superiority  in 
the  field  had  been  uncontested.  The  Romans  calculated  that  in 
these  15  yeai's  their  losses  in  the  field  alone  had  amounted  to  not 
less  than  300,000  men  ;  a  statement  which  will  hardly  appear  ex- 
aggerated when  we  consider  the  continued  combats  in  which  they 
were  engaged  by  their  ever-watchful  foe. 

As  soon  as  Hannibal  landed  in  Africa  the  hopes  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians revived,  and  they  looked  forward  to  a  favorable  termina- 
tion of  the  war.  Hannibal,  however,  formed  a  truer  estimate  of 
the  real  state  of  affairs ;  he  saw  that  the  loss  of  a  battle  would  be 
the  ruin  of  Carthage,  and  he  was  therefore  anxious  to  conclude  a 
peace  before  it  was  too  late.  Scipio,  who  was  eager  to  have  the 
glory  of  bringing  the  war  to  a  close,  and  who  feared  lest  his  ene- 
mies in  the  Senate  might  appoint  him  a  successor,  was  equally  de- 
sirous of  a  peace.  The  terms,  however,  which  the  Roman  general 
proposed  seemed  intolerable  to  the  Carthaginians ;  and  as  Hanni- 
bal, at  a  personal  interview  with  Scipio,  could  not  obtain  any  abate- 
ment of  the  hard  conditions,  he  was  forced,  against  his  will,  to  con- 
tinue the  war.  Into  the  details  of  the  campaign,  which  are  re- 
lated very  differently,  our  limits  will  not  permit  us  to  enter.  The 
decisive  battle  was  at  length  fought  on  the  19th  of  October,  n.c. 
202,  on  the  Bagradas,  not  far  from  the  city  of  Zama ;  and  Hanni- 
bal, according  to  the  express  testimony  of  his  antagonist,  displayed 
on  this  occasion  all  the  qualities  of  a  consummate  general.  But 
he  was  now  particularly  deficient  in  that  formidable  cavalry  which 
had  so  often  decided  the  victory  in  his  favor;  his  elephants,  of 
which  he  had  a  great  number,  were  rendered  unavailing  by  the 
skillful  management  of  Scipio ;  and  the  battle  ended  in  his  com- 
plete defeat,  notwithstanding  the  heroic  exertions  of  his  veteran  in- 
fantry. Twenty  thousand  of  his  men  fell  on  the  field  of  battle,  as 
many  were  made  prisoners,  and  Hannibal  himself  with  difficulty 
escaped  the  pursuit  of  Masinissa.  Upon  his  arrival  at  Carthage 
he  was  the  first  to  admit  the  magnitude  of  the  disaster,  and  to 
point  out  the  impossibility  of  the  farther  prosecution  of  the  war. 
The  terms,  however,  now  imposed  by  Scipio  were  much  more  se- 


B.C.  206-201.  SECOND  TUNIC  WAR:  THIRD  PERIOD.  105 

vere  than  before.  Carthage  had  no  alternative  but  submission ; 
but  the  negotiations  were  continued  for  some  time,  and  a  final 
trea-ty  was  not  concluded  till  the  following  year  (B.C.  201).  By 
this  treaty  it  was  agreed  that  the  Carthaginians  were  to  preserve 
their  independence  and  territory  in  Africa,  but  to  give  up  all  claims 
to  any  foreign  possessions  ;  that  they  were  to  surrender  all  prison- 
ers and  deserters,  all  their  ships  of  war  except  ten  triremes,  and 
all  their  elephants ;  that  they  were  not  to  make  war  in  Africa,  or 
out  of  Africa,  without  the  consent  of  Rome  ;  that  they  were  to  ac- 
knowledge Masinissa  as  king  of  Numidia ;  that  they  were  to  pay 
10,000  talents  in  silver  in  the  course  of  fifty  years. 

Scipio  returned  to  Italy  in  B.C.  201,  and  entered  Rome  in  tri- 
umph. He  was  received  with  universal  enthusiasm ;  the  surname 
of  Africanus  was  conferred  upon  him,  and  the  people,  in  their  grati- 
tude, were  anxious  to  distinguish  him  with  the  most  extraordinary 
marks  of  honor.  It  is  related  that  they  wished  to  make  him  Con- 
sul and  Dictator  for  life,  and  to  erect  his  statue  in  the  Comitia, 
the  Senate-house,  and  even  in  the  Capitol,  but  that  he  prudently 
declined  all  these  invidious  distinctions. 


The  Capitoline  Wolf. 


Coin  of  Antiochus  the  Great 


CHAPTER  XV. 

WARS  IN  THE  EAST.     THE  MACEDONIAN,  SYRIAN,  AND  GALATIAN 
WARS.     B.C.  214-188. 

THE  Second  Punic  War  made  the  Romans  undisputed  masters 
of  the  western  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and 
Corsica  were  Roman  provinces  ;  Spain  owned  the  Roman  suprem- 
acy ;  Carthage  was  completely  humbled,  and  her  powerful  neigh- 
bor Masinissa  was  the  steadfast  ally  of  Rome.  The  Roman  Re- 
public was  now  the  most  powerful  state  in  the  ancient  world. 
Her  legions  had  been  trained  to  war  by  long  struggles  with  Gauls, 
Spaniards,  and  Africans,  and  were  superior  to  all  other  troops  in 
discipline,  experience,  and  valor.  She  now  naturally  turned  her 
eyes  toward  the  East,  whose  eifeminate  nations  seemed  to  offer  an 
easy  conquest. 

The  Greek  kingdoms  in  Asia,  founded  by  the  successors  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  bore  within  them  the  seeds  of  decay.  The 
mighty  kingdom  of  STRIA,  which  had  once  extended  from  the  In- 
dus to  the  JKgc&n  Sea,  had  now  lost  some  of  its  fairest  provinces. 
The  greater  part  of  Asia  Minor  no  longer  owned  the  authority  of 
the  Syrian  kings.  POXTUS  was  governed  by  its  own  rulers.  A 
large  body  of  Gauls  had  settled  in  the  northern  part  of  Phrygia, 
which  district  was  now  called  GALATIA  after  them.  A  new  king- 
dom was  founded  in  Mysia,  to  which  the  name  of  PERGAMUS  was 
given  from  its  chief  city  ;  and  Attalus,  who  was  king  of  Pergamus 
during  the  Second  Punic  War,  formed  an  alliance  with  Rome  as  a 
protection  against  Syria  and  Macedonia.  The  king  of  Syria  at  this 
time  was  Antiochus  IH.,  who,  from  his  victory  over  the  Parthians, 
had  received  the  surname  of  the  Great. 


13.  C.  214-188.         WARS  IN  THE  EAST.  107 

EGYPT  was  governed  by  the  Greek  mon.archs  who  bore  the 
name  of  Ptolemy.  They  had,  even  as  early  as  the  time  of  Pyr- 
Thus,  formed  an  alliance  with  Rome  (see  p.  6G).  The  kingdom  had 
since  declined  in  power,  and  upon  the  death  of  Ptolemy  IV.,  sur- 
named  Philopator,  in  B.C.  205,  the  ministers  of  his  infant  son  Ptol- 
emy Epiphanes,  dreading  the  ambitious  designs  of  the  Macedonian 
and  Syrian  kings,  placed  him  under  the  protection  of  the  Roman 
Senate,  who  consented  to  become  his  guardians. 

The  Republic  of  RHODES  was  the  chief  maritime  power  in  the 
.ffigean  Sea.  It  extended  its  dominion  over  a  portion  of  the  op- 
posite coasts  of  Caria  and  Lycia,  and  over  several  of  the  neighbor- 
ing islands.  Like  the  king  of  Pergamus,  the  Rhodians  had  form- 
ed an  alliance  with  Rome  as  a  protection  against  Macedonia. 

MACEDONIA  was  still  a  powerful  kingdom,  governed  at  this  time 
by  Philip  V.,  a  monarch  of  considerable  ability,  who  ascended  the 
throne  in  B.C.  220,  at  the  early  age  of  seventeen.  His  dominion 
extended  over  the  greater  part  of  Greece  ;  but  two  new  powers  had 
sprung  up  since  the  death  of  Alexander,  which  served  as  some 
counterpoise  to  the  Macedonian  supremacy.  Of  these  the  most 
important  was  the  ACHAEAN  LEAGUE,  which  embraced  Corinth,  Ar- 
cadia, and  the  greater  part  of  the  Peloponnesus.*  The  ^ETOLIAN 
LEAGUE  included  at  this  time  a  considerable  portion  of  Central 
Greece.  ATHENS  and  SPARTA  still  retained  their  independence, 
but  with  scarcely  a  shadow  of  their  former  greatness  and  power. 

Such  was  the  state.of  the  Eastern  world  when  it  came  into  con- 
tact with  the  arms  of  Rome. 

We  have  already  seen  that  during  the  Second  Panic  War  Philip 
had  been  engaged  in  hostilities  with  the  Roman  Republic.  De- 
metrius of  Pharos,  who  had  been  driven  by  the  Romans  from  his 
Illyrian  dominions,!  had  taken  refuge  at  the  court  of  Philip,  and 
soon  acquired  unbounded  influence  over  the  mind  of  the  young 
king.  This  wily  Greek  urged  him  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
grasping  Republic ;  and  the  ambition  of  Philip  was  still  farther 
excited  by  the  victories  of  Hannibal.  After  the  battle  of  Cannae 
(B.C.  21G)  he  concluded  a  treaty  with  Hannibal;  but,  instead  of 
supporting  the  Carthaginian  army  and  fleet,  his  proceedings  were 
marked  by  an  unaccountable  degree  of  hesitation  and  delay.  It 
was  not  till  B.C.  214  that  he  appeared  in  the  Adriatic  with  a  fleet, 
and  laid  siege  to  Oricus  and  Apollonia,  which  the  Romans  had  re- 
tained possession  of  at  the  close  of  the  Illyrian  war.f  He  succeed- 
ed in  taking  Oricus ;  but  the  arrival  of  a  small  Roman  force,  tin- 
der the  command  of  M.  Valerius  Lajvinus,  compelled  him  to  raise 
the  siege  of  Apollonia,  and  to  burn  his  own  ships  to  prevent  their 
*  See  the  "  Smaller  History  of  Greece,"  p.  214.  t  See  p.  19. 


108  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XV. 

fulling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  For  the  next  three  years  the 
\vur  was  carried  on  with  unaccountable  slackness  on  both  sides; 
but  in  B.C.  211  it  assumed  a  new  character  in  consequence  of  the 
alliance  which  the  Romans  formed  with  the  ^Etolian  League. 
Into  the  details  of  the  campaigns  which  followed  it  is  unnecessary 
to  enter;  but  the  attention  of  the  Romans  was  soon  afterward  di- 
rected to  aifairs  in  Spain,  and  the  ^Etolians  were  left  almost  alone 
to  cope  with  Philip.  The  Achseans  also  joined  Philip  against  the 
jiEtolians,  and  the  latter  people  were  so  hard  pressed  that  they 
were  glad  to  make  peace  with  the  Macedonian  king.  Shortly  aft- 
erward the  Romans,  who  were  desirous  of  turning  their  undivided 
attention  to  the  invasion  of  Africa,  also  concluded  peace  with  him 
(B.C.  205). 

The  peace,  which  thus  terminated  the  First  Macedonian  War, 
was  probably  regarded  by  both  parties  as  little  more  than  a  sus- 
pension of  hostilities.  Philip  even  went  so  far  as  to  send  to  the 
Carthaginians  in  Africa  a  body  of  4000  men,  who  fought  at  Zama 
under  the  command  of  Hannibal.  At  the  same  time  he  proceeded 
to  carry  out  his  plans  for  his  own  aggrandizement  in  Greece,  with 
out  any  regard  to  the  Roman  alliances  in  that  country.  In  order 
to  establish  his  naval  supremacy  in  the  JEgean  Sea,  he  attacked 
the  Rhodians  and  Attalus,  king  of  Pergamus,  both  of  whom  were 
allies  of  Rome.  He  had  also  previously  made  a  treaty  with  An- 
tiochus,  king  of  Syria,  for  the  dismemberment  of  the  Egyptian 
monarchy,  which  was  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  the  Roman 
people. 

It  was  impossible  for  the  Senate  to  pass  over  these  acts  of  hos- 
tility, and  accordingly,  in  the  year  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Sec- 
ond Punic  War,  the  Consul  P.  Sulpicius  Galba  proposed  to  the 
Comitia  of  the  Centuries  that  war  should  be  declared  against  Phil- 
ip. But  the  people  longed  for  repose,  and  rejected  the  proposition 
by  the  almost  unanimous  vote  of  every  century.  It  was  only  by 
the  most  earnest  remonstrance,  and  by  representing  to  them  that, 
unless  they  attacked  Philip  in  Greece,  he  would  invade  Italy,  like 
Hannibal,  that  they  were  induced  to  reverse  their  decision  and  de- 
clare war  (B.C.  200). 

Philip  was  at  this  time  engaged  in  the  siege  of  Athens,  which 
had  joined  Attalus  and  the  Rhodians.  The  Consul  Galba  crossed 
over  to  Epirus,  and  Athens  was  relieved  by  a  Roman  fleet;  but 
before  he  withdrew,  Pi.ilip,  prompted  by  anger  and  revenge,  dis- 
played his  barbarism  by  destroying  the  gardens  and  buildings  in 
the  suburbs,  including  the  Lyceum  and  the  tombs  of  the  Attic  he- 
roes; and  in  a  second  incursion  which  he  made  with  large  re-en- 
forcements he  committed  still  greater  excesses.  For  some  time. 


B.C.  2H-188.  WARS  IN  THE  EAST.  109 

however,  the  war  lingered  on  without  any  decided  success  on  either 
side.  The  Consul  Villius,  who  succeeded  Galba  in  B.C.  199,  ef- 
fected nothing  of  importance,  and  it  was  not  till  the  appointment 
of  the  Consul  T.  Quinctius  Flamininus  to  the  command  that  the 
war  was  carried  on  with  energy  and  vigor  (B.C.  198).  He  forced 
his  way  through  the  passes  of  Antigonea,  which  were  occupied  by 
the  enemy,  invaded  Thessaly,  and  took  up  his  winter  quarters  in 
I'hocis  and  Locris.  In  the  following  year  (B.C.  197)  the  struggle 
was  brought  to  a  termination  by  the  battle  of  Cynoscephala:  (Dogs' 
Heads),  a  range  of  hills  near  Scotussa,  in  Thessaly.  The  Roman 
legions  gained  an  easy  victory  over  the  once  formidable  Macedo- 
nian phalanx :  8000  Macedonians  were  killed  and  5000  taken  pris- 
oners, while  Flamininus  lost  only  700  men.  Philip  was  obliged 
to  sue  for  peace,  and  in  the  following  year  (B.C.  196)  a  treaty  was 
ratified  by  which  the  Macedonians  were  compelled  to  renounce 
their  supremacy,  to  withdraw  their  garrisons  from  the  Grecian 
towns,  to  surrender  their  fleet,  and  to  pay  1000  talents  for  the  ex- 
penses of  the  war,  half  at  once,  and  half  by  annual  instalments  in 
the  course  of  ten  years.  Thus  ended  the  SECOND  MACEDONIAN 
WAK. 

At  the  ensuing  Isthmian  games,  which  were  celebrated  at  Cor- 
inth in  the  summer  of  this  year,  Flamininus  was  present,  and  a 
herald  at  his  command  solemnly  proclaimed  the  independence  and 
freedom  of  Greece.  This  unexpected  news  was  received  with 
overwhelming  gratitude  and  joy;  the  throngs  of  people  that  crowd- 
ed round  Flamininus  to  catch  a  sight  of  their  liberator,  or  to  touch 
his  garment,  were  so  enormous  as  almost  to  endanger  his  life. 

Flamininus  remained  two  years  longer  in  Greece  in  order  to 
settle  the  affairs  of  the  country.  He  seems  to  have  been  actuated 
by  a  sincere  desire  to  restore  the  internal  peace  and  welfare  of 
Greece ;  and  whenever  his  actions  appear  at  variance  with  this 
object,  he  was  under  the  influence  of  the  policy  of  the  Republic. 
Thus,  though  he  made  war  upon  Nabis,  the  tyrant  of  Sparta,  and 
deprived  him  of  the  southern  portion  of  Laconia,  he  did  not  expel 
him  from  Sparta,  that  he  might  serve  as  a  useful  check  upon  lha 
Achseans.  When  Flamininus  returned  to  Italy  in  B.C.  194,  he 
withdrew  the  Roman  garrisons  from  all  the  Grecian  towns,  even 
from  Corinth,  Chalcis,  and  Demetrias,  the  three  strongest  fortresses 
in  the  country,  which  were  called  the  Fetters  of  Greece.  On  his 
departure  he  convoked  an  assembly  of  the  Greeks  at  Corinth,  in 
which  he  exhorted  them  to  use  their  freedom  wisely,  and  to  re- 
main faithful  to  Rome.  Flamininus  had  been  absent  five  years. 
His  reputation  was  second  only  to  that  of  Scipio  Africanus.  Hia 
triumph,  which  was  most  magnificent,  lasted  three  days. 


110  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XV 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  Philip  had  formed  an  al- 
liance with  Antiochus  III.,  king  of  Syria,  surnamed  the  Great,  for 
the  dismemberment  of  the  Egyptian  monarchy.  During  the  war 
between  Philip  and  the  Romans,  Antiochus  had  occupied  Asia  Mi- 
nor, and  was  preparing  to  cross  into  Greece.  Upon  the  conclu- 
sion of  this  war,  Flamininus  sternly  forbade  him  to  set  foot  in  Eu- 
rope, and  for  a  time  he  shrank  from  a  contest  with  the  victorious 
arms  of  Rome.  But  the  ^Etolians,  who  had  fought  on  the  Roman 
side,  were  discontented  with  the  arrangements  of  Flamininus. 
Their  arrogance  led  them  to  claim  the  chief  merit  of  the  victory 
of  Cynoscephalai,  and  their  cupidity  desired  a  larger  share  in  the 
spoils  of  the  war.  Flamininus  had  scarcely  quitted  Greece  before 
the  ^Etolians  endeavored  to  persuade  Philip,  Nabis,  and  Antiochui 
to  enter  into  a  league  against  the  Romans.  Philip  at  once  re- 
fused, but  Nabis  took  up  arms,  and  Antiochus  willingly  entered 
into  the  designs  of  the  ^Etolians.  At  this  time  Hannibal  appear- 
ed as  an  exile  at  the  Syrian  court.  After  the  Second  Punic  War 
he  had  set  himself  to  work,  like  his  father  Hamilcar  at  the  end  of 
the  previous  war,  to  prepare  means  for  renewing  the  contest  at  no 
distant  period.  He  introduced  various  reforms  in  the  constitu- 
tion, and  seems  to  have  deprived  the  Oligarchy  of  their  exclusive 
power ;  but  they  avenged  themselves  by  denouncing  him  to  the 
Romans  as  engaged  in  negotiations  with  Antiochus  to  induce  him 
to  take  up  arms  against  Rome.  The  Senate  sent  envoys  to  Car- 
thage to  inquire  into  these  charges ;  and  Hannibal,  seeing  that  his 
enemies  were  too  strong  for  him,  secretly  took  flight,  and  reached 
the  court  of  Antiochus  in  safety.  He  was  received  with  the  high- 
est honors,  and  urged  the  king  to  place  an  army  at  his  disposal 
with  which  he  might  invade  Italy.  But  Antiochus  was  persuaded 
by  tho  ^Etolians  to  cross  over  into  Greece,  and  accordingly  landed 
at  Demetrias  in  Thessaly  in  B.C.  192.  The  Romans  now  declared 
war  against  Antiochus,  and  in  the  following  year  (B.C.  191)  the 
Consul  Acilius  Glabrio  marched  into  Thessaly.  The  king  had 
intrenched  himself  in  the  passes  of  Thermopylae,  that  he  might 
prevent  the  Romans  from  penetrating  into  Central  Greece.  But 
there  was,  as  is  well  known,  a  difficult  passage  across  Mount 
CEta,  by  which  the  Persians  had  descended  to  fight  with  Leonidas. 
This  passage  was  now  forced  by  M.  Cato,  who  was  serving  as  one 
of  the  Consul's  lieutenants,  and  as  soon  as  he  appeared  in  the  rear 
of  the  Syrian  army  they  fled  in  confusion,  and  the  battle  was  won. 
Antiochus  now  hastened  back  to  Asia,  abandoning  all  farther  hopes 
of  conquest  in  Greece.  As  soon  as  he  had  placed  the  sea  between 
himself  and  the  Romans  he  thought  that  he  was  safe ;  but  Hanni- 


B.C.  214-188.          WARS  IN  THE  EAST.  Ill 

bal  warned  him  of  his  error,  and  said  that  he  wondered  that  the 
Romans  had  not  already  followed  him. 

Next  year  (B.C.  190)  L.  Cornelius  Scipio,  the  brother  of  tha 
great  Africanus,  and  C.  Lcelius,  the  intimate  friend  of  the  latter, 
were  Consuls.  L.  Scipio  was  anxious  to  have  the  command  of  the 
war  against  Antiochus ;  but  the  Senate  had  not  much  confidence 
In  his  ability,  and  it  was  only  in  consequence  of  his  brother  Afri- 
canus offering  to  serve  under  him  as  his  lieutenant  that  he  obtain- 
ed the  command  which  he  desired.  Meantime  Antiochus  had  col- 
lected a  vast  army  from  all  parts  of  his  dominions,  and,  advancing 
northward  from  Ephesus,  laid  waste  the  kingdom  of  Pergamus. 
But  upon  the  approach  of  the  Roman  army,  which  entered  Asia  by 
crossing  the  Hellespont,  Antiochus  retreated  southward ;  and  the 
decisive  battle  was  fought  near  Magnesia,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Si- 
pylus.  The  Romans  obtained  an  easy  and  bloodless  victory  over 
the  vast  but  disorderly  rabble  of  the  Syrian  monarch.  Only  400 
Romans  fell,  while  Antiochus  lost  53,000  men.  He  at  once  gave 
up  the  contest  in  despair,  and  humbly  sued  for  peace.  The  con- 
ditions were  hard.  He  had  to  cede  all  his  dominions  west  of 
Mount  Taurus  (that  is,  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor),  to  pay  15,000 
Euboic  talents  within  twelve  years,  to  give  up  his  elephanta  and 
ships  of  war,  and  to  surrender  to  the  Romans  Hannibal  and  some 
others  who  had  taken  refuge  at  his  court.  Hannibal  foresaw  his 
danger,  and  made  his  escape  to  Crete,  from  whence  he  afterward 
repaired  to  the  court  of  Prusias,  king  of  Bithynia. 

L.  Scipio  returned  to  Rome  in  the  following  year,  bringing  with 
him  enormous  treasures.  In  imitation  of  his  brother,  he  assumed 
the  surname  of  ASIATICUS. 

The  Romans  were  now  at  leisure  to  punish  the  JEtolians,  who 
had  to  make  head  against  the  Romans  by  themselves.  The  Con- 
sul M.  Fulvius  Nobilior  (B.C.  189)  took  their  chief  town,  Ambra- 
cia,  after  an  obstinate  resistance,  and  compelled  them  to  sue  for 
peace.  This  was  granted,  but  on  the  most  humiliating  conditions. 
They  were  required  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  Rome,  to  re- 
nounce all  the  conquests  they  had  recently  made,  to  pay  an  indem- 
nity of  500  talents,  and  to  engage  in  future  to  aid  the  Romans  in 
their  wars.  The  power  of  the  JEtolian  league  was  thus  forever 
crushed,  though  it  seems  to  have  existed,  in  name  at  least,  till  a 
much  later  period. 

The  colleague  of  M.  Fnlvius  Nobilior  was  Cn.  Manlius  Vulso, 
who  had  received  Asia  as  his  province,  that  he  might  conclude  the 
peace  which  his  predecessor,  Scipio  Asiaticus,  had  made  with  An- 
tiochus, and  arrange  the  affairs  of  Asia.  But  Manlius  was  not 
content  with  the  subordinate  part  allotted  to  him  ;  and  being  anx- 


112  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XV. 

ious  for  booty  as  much  as  for  glory,  he  attacked  the  Galatifins  in 
Asia  Minor,  without  waiting  for  any  instructions  from  the  Senate, 
and  in  direct  opposition  to  the  ten  commissioners  who  had  been 
sent  to  arrange  conjointly  with  him  the  affairs  of  Asia.  This  was 
the  first  instance  in  which  a  Roman  general  had  made  war  without 
the  authority  of  the  Senate  or  the  People  ;  a  dangerous  precedent, 
which  was  afterward  only  too  faithfully  followed.  The  Galatians 
Were,  as  has  been  already  said,  a  body  of  Gauls,  who,  after  laying 
Waste  a  great  part  of  Asia  Minor,  had  settled  in  the  north  ofPhry- 
gia.  They  had  fought  in  the  army  of  Antiochus  at  Magnesia,  and 
this  supplied  Manlius  with  a  pretext  for  marching  against  them. 
He  defeated  them  in  two  battles,  and  compelled  them  to  sue  for 
peace.  The  campaign  greatly  enriched  Manlius  and  his  legions, 
as  the  Gauls  had  accumulated  enormous  wealth  by  their  many 
conquests  in  Asia. 

Manlius  remained  another  year  (B.C.  188)  in  the  East  as  Pro- 
consul, and,  in  conjunction  with  the  ten  commissioners,  formally 
concluded  the  peace  with  Antiochus,  and  settled  the  affairs  of  Asia. 
Eumenes,  the  king  of  Pergamus,  received  Mysia,  Lydia,  and  part 
of  Caria.  The  Rhodians  obtained  the  remaining  portion  of  Carin, 
together  with  Lycia  and  Pisidia.  Manlius  returned  to  Rome  in 
B.C.  187,  and  his  triumph,  like  that  of  Scipio  Asiaticus,  was  most 
magnificent.  But  his  soldiers,  like  that  of  Scipio,  introduced  into 
the  city  the  luxuries  of  the  East.  These  campaigns,  as  we  shall 
presently  see,  exercised  a  most  injurious  influence  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  Roman  nobles  and  people,  teaching  them  to  love  war 
for  the  sake  of  acquiring  wealth,  and  prompting  them  to  acts  of 
robbery  and  rapine. 


Roman  Soldiers.    (From  Column  of  Trajan .) 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

WARS  IN  THE  WEST.      THE  GALLIC,  LIGURIAN,  AND  SPANISH  WARS. 
B.C.  200-175. 

WHILK  the  Roman  legions  in  the  East  were  acquiring  wealth 
and  winning  easy  conquests,  their  less  fortunate  comrades  in  the 
West  were  carrying  on  a  severe  struggle  with  the  warlike  Gauls, 
Ligurians,  and  Spaniards.  The  Romans  had  hardly  concluded  the 
Second  Punic  War  when  they  received  intelligence  that  Hamilcar, 
a  Carthaginian  officer,  had  excited  several  tribes  in  Northern  Italy 
to  take  up  arms  against  Rome.  These  were  the  Gauls  on  both 
sides  of  the  Po,  and  the  Ligurians,  a  race  of  hardy  mountaineers, 
inhabiting  the  upper  Apennines  and  the  Maritime  Alps.  They 
commenced  the  war  in  B.C.  200  by  the  capture  and  destruction  of 
the  Roman  colony  of  Placentia,  and  by  laying  siege  to  that  of  Cre- 
mona, the  two  strong-holds  of  the  Roman  dominion  in  Northern 
Italy.  The  Romans  now  set  themselves  to  work,  with  the  charac- 
teristic stubbornness  of  their  nation,  to  subdue  thoroughly  these 

H 


114  HISTOKY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XVI 

tribes.  The  Insubres  and  the  Cenomani,  to  the  north  of  the  Po, 
were  the  first  to  yield  ;  but  the  Boii  resisted  for  some  years  all  the 
efforts  of  the  Romans,  and  it  was  not  till  B.C.  191  that  the  Consul 
P.  Cornelius  Scipio  Nasica  received  their  final  submission.  He 
slaughtered  the  Boii  without  mercy,  and  made  it  one  of  the  claims 
of  his  triumph  that  he  had  left  only  children  and  old  men  alive. 
This  warlike  people  was  now  thoroughly  subdued,  and  from  hence, 
forth  Cisalpine  Gaul  became  a  Roman  province,  and  gradually 
adopted  the  language  and  customs  of  Rome.  The  submission  of 
the  people  was  secured  by  the  foundation  of  new  colonies  and  tho 
formation  of  military  roads.  In  B.C.  190  a  colony  was  established 
at  Bononia,  now  Bologna,  in  the  country  of  the  Boii,  and  six  years 
afterward  others  were  also  founded  at  Mutina  (Modena)  and  Par- 
ma. A  military  road  made  by  M.  .iEmilius  Lepidus.  Consul  for 
u.c.  180,  and  called  the  Via  JSmilia,  was  a  continuation  of  the 
Via  Flaminia,  and  ran  from  Ariminum  past  Placentia,  Mutina,  and 
Parma  to  Placentia.  The  subjugation  of  the  Ligurians  was  a  lon^ 
ger  and  more  difficult  task.  These  hardy  mountaineers  continued 
the  war,  with  intermissions,  for  a  period  of  eighty  years.  The 
Romans,  after  penetrating  into  the  heart  of  Liguria,  were  seldom 
able  to  effect  more  than  to  compel  the  enemy  to  disperse,  and  take 
refuge  in  their  villages  and  castles,  of  which  the  latter  were  mount- 
ain fastnesses,  in  which  they  were  generally  able  to  defy  their  pur- 
suers. But  into  the  details  of  these  long-protracted  and  inglorious 
hostilities  it  is  unnecessary  to  enter. 

The  conquests  of  Scipio  Africanus  had  driven  the  Carthaginians 
out  of  Spain,  and  established  the  Roman  supremacy  in  that  coun- 
try. Accordingly,  soon  after  the  end  of  the  Second  Punic  War 
(about  B.C.  198),  the  Romans  proceeded  to  consolidate  their  domin- 
ion in  Spain  by  dividing  it  into  two  provinces,  each  governed  by  a 
Praetor,  which  were  called  Hispania  Citerior,  or  Hither  Spain,  and 
Hispania  Ulterior,  or  Farther  Spain,  and  divided  from  each  other 
by  the  Iberus  or  the  Ebro.  But  it  was  little  more  than  the  east- 
ern part  of  the  peninsula  that  was  really  subject  to  Rome.  The 
powerful  tribes  of  the  Celtiberians  in  Central  Spain,  the  Lusitani' 
ans  in  Portugal,  and  the  Cantabrians  and  Gallaccians  in  the  north- 
west, still  maintained  their  independence.  The  division  of  the 
country  into  two  provinces  showed  that  the  Romans  intended  to 
occupy  it  permanently,  and  occasioned  a  general  insurrection. 

The  Consul  M.  Porcius  Cato,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  more 
fully  presently,  was  sent  to  put  down  this  insurrection  (B.C.  195). 
The  whole  country  was  in  arms ;  but  his  military  genius  and  inde- 
fatigable industry  soon  re-established  the  superiority  of  Rome. 
He  gained  several  decisive  victories,  contrived  to  set  tribe  against 


B.C.  200-1 75. 


WAES  IN  THE  WEST 


115 


tribe,  and  took  native  mercenaries  into  his  pay.  The  details  of 
his  campaign  arc  full  of  horrors.  We  read  of  the  wholesale  slaugh- 
ter of  men  who  had  laid  down  their  arms,  of  multitudes  sold  as 
slaves,  and  of  many  more  who  had  put  themselves  to  death  to  es- 
cape this  fate.  Cato  was  not  the  man  to  feel  any  compunctions 
of  conscience  in  the  performance  of  what  he  considered  a  rigorous 
public  task.  He  boasted  of  having  destroyed  more  towns  in  Spain 
than  he  had  spent  days  in  that  country.  When  he  had  reduced 
the  whole  of  Hither  Spain  to  a  hollow,  sullen,  and  temporary  sub- 
mission, he  returned  to  Home,  and  was  rewarded  with  a  triumph. 

The  severe  measures  of  Cato  only  exasperated  the  Spaniards. 
They  again  took  up  arms,  and  continued  to  resist  the  Koman  Trac- 
tors for  the  next  sixteen  years,  till  Tib.  Sempronius  Gracchus,  the 
father  of  the  celebrated  tribunes,  after  gaining  several  brilliant  vic- 
tories over  the  Celtiberians,  granted  them  an  honorable  peace.  By 
his  wise  measures  and  conciliatory  conduct  he  won  the  affections 
of  the  natives,  and  induced  them  to  submit  to  the  Koman  suprem- 
acy (u.c.  179). 

It  remains  to  mention  two  other  wars  in  the  West.  The  Sardin- 
ians and  Corsicans  revolted,  and  held  out  for  two  years  against 
the  Conqueror  of  Spain  (B.C.  177-175).  But  Gracchus  effected 
their  complete  subjugation,  and  brought  to  Rome  so  large  a  num- 
ber of  captives  for  sale  as  to  give  rise  to  the  proverb  "  Sardi  vena- 
les"  for  any  thing  that  was  cheap  and  worthless. 

The  Istrians,  near  the  head  of  the  Adriatic  Gulf,  had  been  con- 
quered by  the  Romans  just  before  the  Second  Punic  War.  But 
their  complete  subjugation  was  now  necessary,  on  account  of  their 
proximity  to  the  newly-formed  province  of  Cisalpine  Gaul.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  Consuls  invaded  Istria  in  B.C.  178,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing  year  the  whole  people  was  reduced  to  submission. 


Temple  of  Jupiter  C'apitoliuus.     (From  a  Coin.) 


Lictora. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE   ROMAN   CONSTITUTION   AND   ARMY. 

THE  career  of  foreign  conquest  upon  which  the  Republic  had 
now  entered  continued  with  little  or  no  interruption  till  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Empire.  We  may  here  pause  to  take  a  brief  sur- 
vey of  the  form  of  government,  as  well  as  of  the  military  organiza- 
tion by  which  these  conquests  were  effected. 

The  earlier  history  of  the  Roman  constitution  has  been  already 
related.  We  have  seen  how,  after  a  long  struggle,  the  Plebeians 
acquired  complete  political  equality  with  the  Patricians.  In  the 
Second  Punic  War,  the  antagonism  between  the  two  orders  had 
almost  disappeared,  and  the  only  mark  of  separation  between  them 
in  political  matters  was  the  regulation  that,  of  the  two  Consuls 
and  two  Censors,  one  must  be  a  Patrician  and  the  other  a  Plebeian. 
Even  this  fell  into  disuse  upon  the  rise  of  the  new  Nobility,  of 
which  we  shall  speak  in  the  next  chapter.  The  Patricians  gradu- 
ally dwindled  away,  and  it  became  the  custom  to  elect  both  Con- 
suls and  Censors  from  the  Plebeians.* 

*  Two  Plebeian  Consuls  were  first  appointed  in  B.G.  172,  and  two  Hebeian  Cen- 
wr;  in  i;.c.  131. 


CHAP.  XVII.     THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION.  117 

I.  THE  MAGISTRATES. — Every  Roman  citizen  who  aspired  to 
the  consulship  had  to  pass  through  a  regular  gradation  of  public 
offices,  and  the  earliest  age  at  which  he  could  become  a  candidate 
for  them  was  fixed  by  a  law  passed  in  B.C.  179,  and  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Lex  Annalis.  The  earliest  age  for  the  Quaistorship, 
which  was  the  first  of  these  magistracies,  was  27  years;  for  the 
JEdileship,  37;  for  the  Prastorship,  40 ;  and  for  the  Consulship,  43. 

All  magistrates  at  Rome  were  divided  into  Curules  and  those 
who  were  not  Curules.  The  Curuie  Magistrates  were  the  Dicta- 
tors, Censors,  Consuls,  Praitors,  and  Curuie  JEdiles,  and  were  so 
called  because  they  had  the  right  of  sitting  upon  the  Sella  Curulis, 
originally  an  emblem  of  kingly  power,  imported,  along  with  other 
insignia  of  royalty,  from  Etruria. 

1.  The  Qua>stors  were  the  paymasters  of  the  state.     It  was  theit 
duty  to  receive  the  revenues,  and  to  make  all  the  necessary  pay- 
ments  for  the  military  and  civil  services.     There  were  originally 
only  two  Quaestors,  but  their  number  was  constantly  increased  with 
the  conquests  of  the  Republic.     Besides  two  Quaestors  who  always 
remained  at  Rome,  every  Consul  or  Pra3tor  who  conducted  a  war 
or  governed  a  province  was  attended  by  one  of  these  magistrates. 

2.  The  sEdilcshiji  was  originally  a  Plebeian  office,  instituted  at 
the  same  time  as  the  Tribuneship  of  the  Plebs.*     To  the  two  Ple- 
beian ^Ediles  two  Curuie  .ZEdiles  were  added  in  B.C.  365.     The 
four  JEdiles  in  common  had  the  charge  of  the  public  buildings,t 
the  care  of  the  cleansing  and  draining  of  the  city,  and  the  super- 
intendence of  the  police.     They  had  also  the  regulation  of  the 
public  festivals ;  and  the  celebration  of  the  Ludi  Magni,  or  Great 
Games,  was  their  especial  function.     Originally  they  received  a 
sum  of  money  from  the  state  to  defray  the  expenses  of  these  games, 
but  the  grant  was  withdrawn  about  the  time  of  the  First  Punic 
War ;  a  measure  attended  with  important  consequences,  since  the 
higher  magistracies  were  thus  confined  to  the  wealthy,  who  alone 
could  defray  the  charges  of  these  costly  entertainments.     After  the 
Macedonian  and  Syrian  wars,  the  Curuie  ^Ediles  often  incurred  a 
prodigious  expense,  with  the  view  of  pleasing  the  people,  and  se- 
curing their  votes  in  future  elections. 

3.  The  institution  of  the  Prcetorship  in  B.C.  366  has  been  already 
narrated.     There  was  originally  only  one  Prsetor,  subsequently 
called  Praetor  Urbanus,  whose  chief  duty  was  the  administration 
of  justice.     In  B.C.  246  a  second  Praetor  was  added,  who  had  to 
decide  cases  in  which  foreigners  were  concerned,  and  who  was 
hence  called  Praetor  Peregrinus.    When  the  territories  of  the  state 
extended  beyond  Italy,  new  Praetors  were  created  to  govern  tho 

*  Sec  p.  31.  t  Hence  their  name,  from  JEdee,  a  temple. 


118  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XVII. 

provinces.  Two  Praetors  were  appointed  to  take  the  administra- 
tion of  Sicily  and  Sardinia  (is.c.  227),  and  two  more  were  added 
when  the  two  Spanish  provinces  were  formed  (B.C.  197).  There 
were  thus  six  Praetors,  two  of  whom  staid  in  the  city  and  the 
other  four  went  abroad.  Each  Praetor  was  attended  by  six  Lie- 
tors. 

4.  The  Consuls  were  the  highest  ordinary  magistrates  at  Rome, 
and  were  at  the  head  both  of  the  state  and  the  army.     They  con- 
voked the  Senate  and  the  Assembly  of  the  Centuries ;  they  pre- 
sided in  each,  and  had  to  see  that  the  resolutions  of  the  Senate  and 
the  People  were  carried  into  effect.     They  had  the  supreme  com- 
mand of  the  armies  in  virtue  of  the  Imperium  conferred  upon  them 
by  a  special  vote  of  the  People.     At  the  head  of  the  army,  they 
had  full  power  of  life  and  death  over  their  soldiers.     They  Avere 
preceded  by  twelve  lictors,  but  this  outward  sign  of  power  was  en- 
joyed by  them  month  by  month  in  turn. 

The  magistrates  above-mentioned  were  elected  annually,  but  it 
was  the  practice  frequently  to  prolong  the  command  of  the  Consuls 
or  Prfetors  in  the  provinces  under  the  titles  of  Proconsuls  or  Pro- 
praetors. In  the  later  times  of  the  Republic  it  was  usual  for  both 
Consuls  and  several  Praetors  to  remain  at  Rome  during  their  year 
of  office,  and  at  its  close  to  take  the  command  of  provinces,  with 
.he  titles  of  Proconsuls  or  Propraetors. 

5.  The  Dictatorship,  which  occurs  so  often  in  the  early  history 
of  the  Republic,  disappears  altogether  after  the  Second  Punic  War. 
As  the  Republic  became  powerful,  and  had  no  longer  to  dread  any 
enemies  in  Italy,  there  was  no  necessity  for  such  an  extraordinary 
magistracy  as   the  Dictatorship,  but  whenever  internal  dangers 
seemed  to  require  a  stronger  executive,  the  Senate  invested  the 
Consuls  with  dictatorial  power.* 

6.  The  Censors  were  two  in  number,  elected  eArery  five  years,  but 
they  held  their  office  for  a  year  and  a  half.     They  were  taken,  as 
a  general  rule,  from  those  who  had  been  previously  Consuls,  and 
their  office  was  regarded  as  the  highest  dignity  in  the  state.     Their 
duties,  which  were  very  extensive  and  very  important,  may  be  di- 
vided into  three  classes,  all  of  which,  however,  were  closely  con- 
nected. 

(a).  Their  first  and  most  important  duty  was  to  take  the  Cen- 
sus. This  was  not  simply  a  list  of  the  population,  according  to 
the  modern  use  of  the  word,  but  a  valuation  of  the  property  of  every 
Roman  citizen.  This  valuation  was  necessary,  not  only  for  the 
assessment  of  the  property-tax,  but  also  for  determining  the  posi- 

*  This  was  done  by  the  well-known  formula  "  Videant,"  or  "  Dent  operam  Con- 
miles,  ne  quid  rea  publica  detriment  capiat." 


CHAP.  XVII.     THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION.  11? 

icon  of  every  citizen  in  the  state,  which  was  regulated,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  constitution  of  Servius  Tullius,  by  the  amount  of 
his  property.  Accordingly,  the  Censors  had  to  draw  up  lists  of  tho 
Classes  and  Centuries.  They  also  made  out  the  lists  of  the  Sena, 
tors  and  Equites,  striking  out  the  names  of  all  whom  they  deemed 
nmvoithy,  and  tilling  up  all  vacancies  iu  the  Senate. 

(/>.)  The  Censors  possessed  a  general  control  over  the  conduct 
and  morals  of  the  citizens.  In  the  exercise  of  this  important  pow- 
er they  were  not  guided  by  any  rules  of  law,  but  simply  by  their 
own  sense  of  duty.  They  punished  acts  of  private  as  well  as  pub- 
lic immorality,  and  visited  with  their  censure  not  only  offenses 
against  the  laws,  but  every  thing  opposed  to  the  old  Roman  char- 
acter and  habits,  such  as  living  in  celibacy,  extravagance,  luxury, 
etc.  They  had  the  power  of  degrading  every  citizen  to  a  lower 
rank,  of  expelling  Senators  from  the  Senate,  of  depriving  the  Equi- 
tes of  their  horses,  and  of  removing  ordinary  citizens  from  their 
tribes,  and  thus  excluding  them  from  all  political  rights. 

(c.)  The  Censors  also  had  the  administration  of  the  finances  of 
the  state,  under  the  direction  of  the  Senate.  They  let  out  the  tax- 
es to  the  highest  bidders  for  the  space  of  a  lustrum,  or  five  years.* 
They  likewise  received  from  the  Senate  certain  sums  of  money  to 
keep  the  public  buildings,  roads,  and  aqueducts  in  repair, t  and  to 
construct  new  public  works  in  Rome  and  other  parts  of  Italy. 
Hence  we  find  that  many  of  the  great  public  roads,  such  as  the  Via 
Appia  and  Via  Flaminia,  were  made  by  Censors. 

II.  THE  SENATE. — The  Senate  was  in  reality  the  executive  gov- 
ernment of  Rome,  and  the  Magistrates,  of  whom  we  have  been 
speaking,  were  only  its  ministers.  The  Senate  consisted  of  Three 
Hundred  members,  who  held  the  dignity  for  life  unless  expelled 
by  the  Censors  for  reasons  already  mentioned,  but  they  could  not 
transmit  the  honor  to  their  sons.  All  vacancies  in  the  body  were 
filled  up  by  the  Censors  every  five  years  from  those  who  had  held 
the  Quaistorship  or  any  higher  magistracy.  The  Censors  were 
thus  confined  in  their  selection  to  those  who  had  already  received 
the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  no  one  could  therefore  enter  the 
Senate  unless  he  had  some  experience  in  political  affairs. 

The  power  of  the  Senate  was  very  great.  It  exercised  a  control 
over  legislation,  since  no  law  could  be  proposed  to  the  Assemblies 
of  the  People  unless  it  had  first  received  the  approval  of  the  Sen- 

*  These  farmers  of  the  public  revenue  were  called  Publicani. 

t  It  is  not  easy  to  define  with  accuracy  the  respective  duties  of  the  Censors  and 
.(Ediles  in  relation  to  the  public  buildings ;  but  it  may  be  stated  in  general  that 
the  superintendence  of  the  j&liles  was  more  in  the  way  of  police,  while  that  of 
the  Censors  had  reference  to  all  financial  matters- 


120  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XVIL 

ate.  In  many  cases  "  Senatus  consnlta"*  were  passed,  which  had 
the  force  of  laws  without  being  submitted  to  the  Popular  Assem- 
blies at  all.  This  was  especially  the  case  in  matters  affecting  re- 
ligion, police,  administration,  the  provinces,  and  all  foreign  rela- 
tions. 

In  foreign  affairs  the  authority  of  the  Senate  was  absolute,  with 
the  exception  of  declaring  war  and  making  peace,  which  needed 
the  sanction  of  the  Centuries.  The  Senate  assigned  the  provinces 
into  which  the  Consuls  and  Praters  were  to  be  sent ;  they  determ- 
ined the  manner  in  which  a  war  was  to  be  conducted,  and  the 
number  of  troops  to  be  levied ;  they  prolonged  the  command  of  a 
general  or  superseded  him  at  their  pleasure,  and  on  his  return  they 
granted  or  refused  him  a  triumph  ;  they  alone  carried  on  negoti- 
ations with  foreign  states,  and  all  embassadors  to  foreign  powers 
were  appointed  by  the  Senate  from  their  own  body. 

In  home  affairs  they  had  the  superintendence  in  all  matters  of 
religion.  They  had  also  the  entire  administration  of  the  finances. 
When  the  Republic  was  in  danger  the  Senate  had  the  power  of 
suspending  the  laws  by  the  appointment  of  a  Dictator,  or  by  in- 
vesting the  Consuls  with  dictatorial  power,  as  already  mentioned. 

III.  THE  POPULAR  ASSEMBLIES. — 1.  The  Camilla  Curiata,  tho 
Patrician  assembly,  had  become  a  mere  form  as  early  as  the  First 
Punic  War.  The  gradual  decline  of  its  power  has  been  already 
traced.  It  continued  to  meet  for  the  transaction  of  certain  matters 
pertaining  to  the  Patrician  gentes,  but  was  represented  simply  by 
30  lictors. 

2.  The  constitution  of  the  Comitia  Centuriata,  as  established  by 
Servius  Tullius,t  had  undergone  a  great  change  between  the  time 
of  the  Licinian  Rogations  and  the  Punic  Wars,  but  both  the  exact 
time  and  nature  of  this  change  are  unknown.  It  appears,  howev- 
er, that  its  object  was  to  give  more  power  and  influence  to  the  pop- 
iilar  element  in  the  state.  For  this  purpose  the  35  tribes  were 
taken  as  the  basis  of  the  new  Constitution  of  the  Centuries.  Each 
tribe  was  probably  divided  into  five  property  Classes,  and  each 
Classis  was  subdivided  into  two  Centuries,  one  of  Seniores  and  the 
other  of  Juniores.  Each  tribe  would  thus  contain  10  Centuries, 
and,  consequently,  the  35  tribes  would  have  350  Centuries,  so  that, 
with  the  18  Centuries  of  the  Knights,  the  total  number  of  the  Cen- 
turies would  be  368. 

The  Comitia  of  the  Centuries  still  retained  the  election  of  the 
higher  magistrates,  the  power  of  enacting  laws,  of  declaring  war 

*  A  Senatus  consuUum  was  so  called  because  the  Consul  who  brought  a  mutter 
before  the  Senate  was  said  Senatum  cunaulere.  t  See  p.  19. 


CiiAp.XVII.    THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION.  121 

and  making  peace,  and  also  the  highest  judicial  functions.  Accu- 
sations for  treason  were  brought  before  the  Centuries,  and  in  all 
criminal  matters  every  Roman  citizen  could  appeal  to  them.*  But, 
notwithstanding  these  extensive  powers,  their  influence  in  the  state 
was  gradually  superseded  by  the  Assembly  of  the  Tribes. 

3.  The  Comitia  Tributa  obtained  its  superior  influence  and  pow- 
er mainly  through  its  Tribunes.  The  Assembly  of  the  Centuries, 
being  summoned  and  presided  over  by  the  Consuls,  was,  to  a  great 
extent,  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Senate,  while  that  of 
the  Tribes,  being  guided  by  its  own  magistrates,  and  representing 
the  popular  element,  was  frequently  opposed  to  the  Senate,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  internal  administration  of  the  state 
The  increasing  power  of  the  Tribunes  naturally  led  to  a  correspond- 
ing increase  in  the  power  of  the  Tribes.  The  right  of  Intercession! 
possessed  by  the  Tribunes  was  extended  to  all  matters.  Thus  we 
find  the  Tribunes  preventing  the  Consuls  from  summoning  the 
Senate  and  from  proposing  laws  to  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries. 
As  the  persons  of  the  Tribunes  were  sacred,  the  Senate  could  exer- 
cise no  control  over  them,  while  they,  on  the  contrary,  could  even 
seize  a  Consul  or  a  Censor,  and  throw  him  into  prison.  The  only 
effective  check  which  the  Senate  had  upon  the  proceedings  of  the 
Tribunes  was,  that  one  Tribune  could  put  his  veto  upon  the  acts 
of  his  colleagues.  Consequently,  by  securing  the  support  of  one 
member  of  the  body,  the  Senate  were  able  to  prevent  the  other 
Tribunes  from  carrying  out  their  plans. 

The  Plebiscite  enacted  by  the  Tribes  had  the  same  force  as  the 
Leges  of  the  Centuries.  J  There  were  thus  two  sovereign  assem- 
blies at  Rome,  each  independent  of  the  other ;  that  of  the  Tribes, 
as  already  observed,  was  the  most  important  at  the  period  which 
we  have  now  reached. 

IV.  FINANCES. — The  ordinary  expenditure  of  the  Roman  state 
was  not  large.  All  the  magistrates  discharged  their  duties  with- 
out pay ;  and  the  allied  troops,  which  formed  so  large  a  portion  of 
a  Roman  army,  were  maintained  by  the  allies  themselves.  The 
expenses  of  war  were  defrayed  by  a  property-tax  called  Tributum, 
which  was  usually  one  in  a  thousand,  or  one  tenth  per  cent.,  but 
after  the  last  war  with  Macedonia  the  treasury  received  such  large 
sums  from  the  provinces  that  the  tributum  was  abolished.  From 
this  time  the  expenses  of  the  state  were  almost  entirely  defrayed 
by  the  taxes  levied  in  the  provinces.  The  other  revenues  of  the 
state,  which  bore  the  general  name  of  Vectiyalia,  may  be  dismissed 

*  The  technical  word  for  this  appeal  was  Provocatio.  The  word  Appellatio  sig- 
nified an  appeal  from  one  magistrate  te  another.  t  See  p.  31.  t  See  p.  40. 


122  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.XVIL 

with  a  few  words.  They  consisted  of  the  rents  arising  from  the 
public  lands,  of  the  customs'  duties,  of  the  taxes  upon  mines, 
salt,  etc. 

V.  THE  ARMY. — The  Roman  army  was  originally  called  Legio; 
and  this  name,  which  is  coeval  with  the  foundation  of  Rome,  con- 
tinued down  to  the  latest  times.  The  Legion  was  therefore  not 
equivalent  to  what  we  call  a  regiment,  inasmuch  as  it  contained 
troops  of  all  arms,  infantry,  cavalry,  and,  when  military  engines 
were  extensively  employed,  artillery  also.  The  number  of  soldiers 
who,  at  different  periods,  were  contained  in  a  legion,  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  absolutely  fixed,  but  to  have  varied  within  mod- 
erate limits.  Under  Romulus  the  legion  contained  3000  foot-sol- 
diers. From  the  expulsion  of  the  Kings  until  the  second  year  of 
the  Second  Punic  War  the  regular  number  may  be  fixed  at  4000 
or  4200  infantry.  From  the  latter  period  until  the  consulship  of 
Marius  the  ordinary  number  was  from  5000  to  5200.  For  some 
centuries  after  Marius  the  numbers  varied  from  5000  to  G200,  gen- 
erally approaching  to  the  higher  limit.  Amid  all  the  variations 
with  regard  to  the  infantry,  300  horsemen  formed  the  regular  com- 
plement of  the  legion.  The  organization  of  the  legion  differed  at 
different  periods. 

1.  First  Period,     Servius  Tullius. — The  legion  of  Servius  is  so 
closely  connected  with  the  Comitia  Centuriata  that  it  has  already 
been  discussed,*  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  state  here  that  it  was  a 
phalanx  equipped  in  the  Greek  fashion,  the  front  ranks  being  fur- 
nished with  a  complete  suit  of  armor,  their  weapons  being  long 
spears,  and  their  chief  defense  the  round  Argolic  shield  (<,7//;e«s). 

2.  Second  Period.      The  Great  Latin  War,  B.C.  340. — The  legion 
in  B.C.  340  had  almost  entirely  discarded  the  tactics  of  the  phalanx. 
It  was  now  drawn  up  in  three,  or  perhaps  we  ought  to  say,  in  five 
lines.     The  soldiers  of  the  first  line,  called  Hastati,  consisted  of 
youths  in  the  first  bloom  of  manhood,  distributed  into  15  compa- 
nies or  maniples  (nianipuli),  a  moderate  space  being  left  between 
each.     The  maniple  contained  60  privates,  2  centurions  (centttri- 
ones),  and  a  standard-bearer  (vexillarius).     The  second  line,  the 
Principes,  was  composed  of  men  in  the  full  vigor  of  life,  divided  in 
like  manner  into  15  maniples,  all  heavily  armed.     The  two  lines 
of  the  Hastati  and  Principes  taken  together  amounted  to  30  mani- 
ples, and  formed  the  Antepilani.     The  third  line,  the  Triarii,  com- 
posed of  tried  veterans,  was  also  in  15  divisions,  but  each  of  these 
was  triple,  containing  3  maniples.     In  these  triple  maniples  tho 
veterans,  or  Triarii  proper,  formed  the  front  ranks ;  immediately  be- 

•  See  D.  19. 


CHAP.  XVII.  THE  ROMAN  ARMY.  123 

hind  them  stood  the  Rorarii,  inferior  in  age  and  prowess,  while  the 
Accensi,  or  supernumeraries,  less  trustworthy  than  either,  were 
posted  in  the  extreme  rear. 

3.  Third  Period.  During  the  Wars  of  the  younger  Scijiio. — Un- 
der ordinary  circumstances  four  legions  were  levied  yearly,  two 
being  assigned  to  each  Consul.  It  must  be  observed  that  a  regu- 
lar consular  army  no  longer  consisted  of  Roman,  legions  only,  but, 
as  Italy  became  gradually  subjugated,  the  various  states  under  the 
dominion  of  Rome  were  bound  to  furnish  a  contingent,  and  the 
number  of  allies  usually  exceeded  that  of  the  citizens.  They  were, 
however,  kept  perfectly  distinct,  both  in  the  camp  and  in  the  battle- 
field. 

The  men  belonging  to  each  legion  were  separated  into  four  di- 
visions. 1.  1000  of  the  youngest  and  poorest  were  set  apart  to 
form  the  Velites,  the  light-armed  troops  or  skirmishers  of  the  le- 
gion. 2.  1 200  who  came  next  in  age  (or  who  were  of  the  same 
age  with  the  preceding,  but  more  wealthy)  formed  the  Hastati.  3. 
1200,  consisting  of  those  in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood,  formed  the 
Principes.  4.  600  of  the  oldest  and  most  experienced  formed  the 
Triarii.  When  the  number  of  soldiers  in  the  legion  exceeded  4000, 
the  first  three  divisions  were  increased  proportionally,  but  the  num- 
ber of  the  Triarii  remained  always  the  same.  The  Hastati,  Prin- 
cipes, and  Triarii  were  each  divided  into  10  companies,  called 
Maniples.  The  Velites  were  not  divided  into  companies,  but 
were  distributed  equally  among  the  Hastati,  Principes,  and  Triarii. 
Each  maniple  was  subdivided  into  two  centuries,  commanded  by  a 
centurion.  Each  legion  had  six  superior  officers,  called  Tribuni 
Militum.  The  legion  was  also  divided  into  10  cohorts;  and  as 
the  cohorts  were  all  equal  to  each  other,  the  strength  of  the  cohort 
varied  from  time  to  time  with  the  strength  of  the  legion,  and  thus 
at  different  periods  ranged  between  the  limits  of  300  and  GOO. 

Three  hundred  horse-soldiers  were  apportioned  to  each  legion, 
divided  into  10  troops  (turma>),  out  of  which  three  officers  were 
chosen  named  Dccuriones. 

The  infantry  furnished  by  the  Socii  was  for  the  most  part  equal 
in  number  to  the  Roman  legions,  the  cavalry  twice  or  thrice  as 
numerous,  and  the  whole  were  divided  equally  between  the  two 
consular  armies.  Each  Consul  named  12  superior  officers,  who 
were  termed  Prafccti  Sociorum,  and  corresponded  to  the  Legion- 
ary Tribunes. 

Fourth  Period.  From  the  times  of  the  Gracchi  until  the  downfall 
of  the  Republic.* — After  the  times  of  the  Gracchi  the  following 

*  We  anticipate  the  course  of  events  in  order  to  give  under  one  vievr  the  hit) 
tory  of  the  Roman  legion. 


124  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XVIL 

changes  in  military  affairs  may  be  noticed :  In  the  first  consul- 
fhip  of  Marius  the  legions  were  thrown  open  to  citizens  of  all 
grades,  without  distinction  of  fortune.  The  whole  of  the  legion- 
aries were  armed  and  equipped  in  the  same  manner,  all  being  now 
furnished  with  the  pilum.  The  legionaries,  when  in  battle-order, 
were  no  longer  arranged  in  three  lines,  each  consisting  of  ten 
maniples  with  an  open  space  between  each  maniple,  but  in  two 
lines,  each  consisting  of  five  cohorts,  with  a  space  between  each 
cohort.  The  younger  soldiers  were  no  longer  placed  in  the  front, 
but  in  reserve,  the  van  being  composed  of  veterans.  As  a  neces- 
sary result  of  the  above  arrangements,  the  distinction  between  Has- 
tati,  Principes,  and  Triarii  ceased  to  exist.  The  Velites  disappear- 
ed. The  skirmishers,  included  under  the  general  term  Levis  Ar- 
matura,  consisted  for  the  most  part  of  foreign  mercenaries  possess- 
ing peculiar  skill  in  the  use  of  some  national  weapon,  such  as  the 
Balearic  slingers,  the  Cretan  archers  (sagittarii),  and  the  Moorish 
dartmen.  When  operations  requiring  great  activity  were  under- 
taken, such  as  could  not  be  performed  by  mere  skirmishers,  de- 
tachments of  legionaries  were  lightly  equipped,  and  marched  with- 
out baggage  for  these  special  services.*  The  cavalry  of  the  legion 
underwent  a  change  in  every  respect  analogous  to  that  which  took 
place  with  regard  to  the  light-armed  troops.  The  Roman  Equites 
attached  to  the  army  were  very  few  in  number,  and  were  chiefly 
employed  as  aids-de-camp  and  on  confidential  missions.  The 
bulk  of  the  cavalry  consisted  of  foreigners,  and  hence  we  find  the 
legions  and  the  cavalry  spoken  of  as  completely  distinct  from  each 
other.  After  the  termination  of  the  Social  War,  when  most  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Italy  became  Roman  citizens,  the  ancient  distinc- 
tion between  the  Legiones  and  the  Socii  disappeared,  and  all  who 
had  served  as  Socii  became  incorporated  with  the  Legiones. 

In  the  course  of  the  history  the  Triumphs  granted  to  victorious 
generals  have  been  frequently  mentioned,  and  therefore  a  brief  de- 
sciption  of  them  may  appropriately  close  this  sketch  of  the  Roman 
army.  A  Triumph  was  a  solemn  procession,  in  which  a  victorious 
general  entered  the  city  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  four  horses.  He 
was  preceded  by  the  captives  and  spoils  taken  in  war,  was  followed 
by  his  troops,  and,  after  passing  in  state  along  the  Via  Sacra, 
ascended  the  Capitol  to  offer  sacrifice  in  the  Temple  of  Jupiter. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  Republic  down  to  the  extinction  of  lib- 
erty a  Tiiumph  was  recognized  as  the  summit  of  military  glory, 
and  was  the  cherished  object  of  ambition  to  every  Roman  general. 
After  any  decisive  battle  had  been  won,  or  a  province  subdued  by 

*  Hence  the  frequent  occurrence  of  such  phrases  as  expediti,  expediti  milites, 
expedite  cohortes^  and  even  expeditas  leyiones. 


CHAP.  XVII. 


THE  ROMAN  ARMY. 


125 


a  series  of  successful  operations,  the  general  forwarded  to  the  Sen- 
ate  a  laurel-wreathed  dispatch  containing  an  account  of  his  ex- 
ploits. If  the  intelligence  proved  satisfactory  the  Senate  decreed 
a  public  thanksgiving.*  After  the  war  was  concluded,  the  general, 
with  his  army,  repaired  to  Rome,  or  ordered  his  army  to  meet  him 
there  on  a  given  day,  but  did  not  enter  the  city.  A  meeting  of 
the  Senate  was  held  without  the  walls,  that  he  might  have  an  op- 
portunity  of  urging  his  pretensions  in  person,  and  these  were  then 
scrutinized  and  discussed  with  the  most  jealous  care.  If  the  Sen- 
ate gave  their  consent,  they  at  the  same  time  voted  a  sum  of  mon- 
ey toward  defraying  the  necessary  expenses,  and  one  of  the  Trib- 
unes applied  for  a  plebiscitum  to  permit  the  Imperator  to  retain 
his  imperium  on  the  day  when  he  entered  the  city.  This  last  form 
could  not  be  dispensed  with,  because  the  imperium  conferred  by 
the  Ccmitia  did  not  include  the  city  itself;  and  accordingly  the 
military  power  of  the  general  ceased  as  soon  as  he  re-entered  the 
gates,  unless  the  general  law  had  been  previously  suspended  by  a 
special  enactment. 

*  Called  Su]>i>licatio. 


A  Roman  general  addressing  the  soldiers.    (From  a  Coia> 


"f 

Scipio  Africanus. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

INTERNAL   HISTOKY    OP   ROME   DURING   THE   MACEDONIAN   AND 
SYRIAN  WARS.       CATO   AND    SCIPIO. 

THE  conquests  of  the  Romans  in  the  East  had  exercised  a  most 
pernicious  influence  upon  the  national  character.  They  were  orig- 
inally a  hardy,  industrious,  and  religious  race,  distinguished  by  un- 
bending integrity  and  love  of  order.  They  lived  with  great  frugal- 
ity upon  their  small  farms,  which  they  cultivated  with  their  own 
hands;  but  they  were  stern  and  somewhat  cruel,  and  cared  little 
or  nothing  for  literature  and  the  arts.  Upon  such  a  people  the 
sudden  acquisition  of  wealth  produced  its  natural  effects.  They 
employed  it  in  the  gratification  of  their  appetites,  and  in  coarse 
sensual  pleasures.  Some  of  the  Roman  nobles,  such  as  Scipio  Af- 
ricanus, Flamininus  (the  conqueror  of  Philip),  and  others,  acquired 
a  love  for  Greek  literature  and  art;  but  the  great  mass  of  the  na- 
tion imitated  only  the  vices  of  the  Greeks.  Cooks,  who  had  for- 
merly been  the  cheapest  kind  of  slaves  at  Rome,  now  became  the 
most  valuable.  A  love  of  luxury  and  a  general  depravity  gradu- 
ally spread  through  all  classes  of  society.  A  striking  instance  of 
the  growing  licentiousness  of  the  times  was  brought  to  light  in 
n.c.  186.  It  was  discovered  that  the  worship  of  Bacchus  had  been 
introduced  from  Southern  Italy  into  Rome  and  other  towns,  and 


CHAP.  XVIII.  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  127 

that  secret  societies  were  formed,  which,  under  the  cloak  of  this 
worship,  indulged  in  the  most  abominable  vices.  A  stringent  in- 
quiry was  made  into  these  practices ;  the  most  guilty  wciv  put  to 
death ;  and  a  decree  of  the  Senate  was  passed,  forbidding  ilie  wor- 
ship of  Bacchus  in  Rome  and  throughout  Italy. 

Another  circumstance  will  illustrate  the  manners  of  the  times. 
L.  Flamininus,  the  brother  of  the  conqueror  of  Philip,  and  Consul 
in  B.C.  192,  took  with  him  into  Cisalpine  Gaul  a  beautiful  Cartha- 
ginian boy,  to  whom  he  was  attached.  The  youth  complained  of 
leaving  Rome  just  before  the  exhibition  of  the  games  of  the  gladi- 
ators. Shortly  after  reaching  the  province,  when  Flamininus  was 
feasting  with  his  favorite,  a  Boian  chief  came  into  the  Consul's  tent 
to  implore  his  protection.  Flamininus  seized  this  opportunity  to 
please  the  boy,  and,  telling  him  that  he  should  be  rewarded  for  not 
seeing  the  gladiators,  he  ordered  an  attendant  to  stab  the  Gaul, 
that  his  favorite  might  enjoy  the  dying  agonies  of  the  man. 

The  increasing  love  of  gladiatorial  combats  was  another  indica- 
tion of  the  national  character.  These  brutalizing  sports  are  said 
to  have  taken  their  origin  from  the  Etruscans,  who  were  accustom- 
ed to  kill  slaves  and  captives  at  the  funerals  of  their  relatives. 
They  were  first  exhibited  at  Rome  in  the  beginning  of  the  First 
Punic  War  (B.C.  2G4).  At  first  confined  to  funerals,  they  were  aft- 
erward exhibited  by  the  ^Ediles  at  the  public  games,  with  the  view 
of  pleasing  the  people.  The  passion  for  this  brutalizing  amusement 
rose  to  a  great  height  toward  the  end  of  the  Republic  and  under 
the  Empire.  Great  pains  were  taken  with  the  training  of  gladi- 
ators, who  were  divided  into  different  classes  according  to  their 
arms  and  modes  of  fighting. 

Among  many  other  important  consequences  of  these  foreign 
wars,  two  exercised  an  especial  influence  upon  the  future  fate  of 
the  Republic.  •  The  nobles  became  enormously  rich,  and  the  peas- 
ant proprietors  almost  entirely  disappeared.  The  wealthy  nobles 
now  combined  together  to  keep  in  their  own  families  the  public 
offices  of  the  state,  which  afforded  the  means  of  making  such  enor- 
mous fortunes.  Thus  a  new  Nobility  was  formed,  resting  on  wealth, 
and  composed  alike  of  plebeian  and  patrician  families.  Every  one 
whose  ancestry  had  not  held  any  of  the  curule  magistracies*  was 
called  a  New  Man,  and  was  branded  as  an  upstart. f  It  became 

•  See  p.  117. 

t  The  Nobilex  were  distinguished  from  the  Ignobiles.  The  outward  distinction 
ftf  the  former  was  the  Jus  Imafiinum.  These  Imagines  were  figures  with  paint- 
ed masks  of  wax,  representing  the  ancestors  who  had  held  any  of  the  cimile  mag- 
istracies. They  were  placed  in  cases  in  the  atrium  or  reception-hall  of  the 
house,  and  were  carried  in  the  funeral  procession  of  a  member  of  the  family. 
Any  one  who  first  obtained  a  curule  magistracy  became  the  founder  of  the  nobil- 


1 28  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XVIII. 

more  and  more  difficult  for  a  New  Man  to  rise  to  office,  and  the 
Nobles  were  thus  almost  an  hereditary  aristocracy  in  the  exclusive 
possession  of  the  government.  The  wealth  they  had  acquired  in 
foreign  commands  enabled  them  not  only  to  incur  a  prodigious  ex- 
pense in  the  celebration  of  the  public  games  in  their  asdileship, 
with  the  view  of  gaining  the  votes  of  the  people  at  future  elections, 
but  also  to  spend  large  sums  of  money  in  the  actual  purchase  of 
votes.  The  first  law  against  bribery*  was  passed  in  B.C.  181,  a 
sure  proof  of  the  growth  of  the  practice. 

The  decay  of  the  peasant  proprietors  was  an  inevitable  conse- 
quence of  these  frequent  and  long-protracted  wars.  In  the  earlier 
times  the  citizen-soldier,  after  a  few  weeks'  campaign,  returned 
home  to  cultivate  his  land ;  but  this  became  impossible  when  wars 
were  carried  on  out  of  Italy.  Moreover,  the  soldier,  easily  obtain- 
ing abundance  of  booty,  found  life  in  the  camp  more  pleasant 
than  the  cultivation  of  the  ground.  He  was  thus  as  ready  to  sell 
his  land  as  the  nobles  were  anxious  to  buy  it.  But  money  acquired 
by  plunder  is  soon  squandered.  The  soldier,  returning  to  Rome, 
swelled  the  ranks  of  the  poor ;  and  thus,  while  the  nobles  became 
richer  and  richer,  the  lower  classes  became  poorer  and  poorer.  In 
consequence  of  the  institution  of  slavery  there  was  little  or  no  de- 
mand for  free  labor,  and  as  prisoners  taken  in  war  were  sold  as 
slaves,  the  slave-market  was  always  well  supplied.  The  estates  of 
the  wealthy  were  cultivated  by  large  gangs  of  slaves ;  and  even  the 
mechanical  arts,  which  give  employment  to  such  large  numbers  in 
the  modern  towns  of  Europe,  were  practiced  by  slaves,  whom  their 
masters  had  trained  for  the  purpose.  The  poor  at  Rome  were  thus 
left  almost  without  resources ;  their  votes  in  the  popular  assembly 
were  nearly  the  only  thing  they  could  turn  into  money,  and  it  is 
therefore  not  surprising  that  they  were  ready  to  sell  them  to  the 
highest  bidder. 

Many  distinguished  men  saw  with  deep  regret  the  ol  1  Roman 
virtues  disappearing,  and  strove  vigorously  against  these  corrup- 
tions of  the  national  character.  Of  this  party  the  most  conspicu- 
ous member  was  M.  Porcius  Cato,  who  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of 
the  old  Roman  character.  He  was  born  at  Tusculum  in  B.C.  234. 
When  a  young  man,  the  death  of  his  father  put  him  in  possession 
of  a  small  hereditary  estate  in  the  Sabine  territory,  at  a  distance 
from  his  native  town.  It  was  here  that  he  passed  the  greater  part 
of  his  boyhood,  hardening  his  body  by  healthful  exercise,  and  su- 

ity  of  his  family.  Such  a  person  waa  himself  neither  a  Xobilia  nor  an  Igndbilia. 
He  wns  termed  a  Xovtia  Homo,  or  a  new  man. 

*  The  Latin  word  for  brihery  is  ambitus,  literally  canvassing.  It  must  not  bo 
confounded  with  rcpctundcs,  the  offense  of  extortion  or  pecuniary  corruption 
committed  by  magistrates  IP  the  provinces  or  at  Komi'. 


1J.C.  234-191.  M.  PORCIUS  UATO.  129 

pcrintending  and  sharing  the  operations  of  the  farm.  Near  his  es- 
tate was  an  humble  cottage,  which  had  been  tenanted,  after  three 
triumphs,  by  its  owner  M.Curius  Dentatus,  whose  warlike  exploits 
and  simple  character  were  often  talked  of  with  admiration  in  the 
neighborhood.  The  ardor  of  the  youthful  Cato  was  kindled.  He 
resolved  to  imitate  the  character,  and  hoped  to  rival  the  glory,  of 
Dentatus.  Opportunity  was  not  wanting.  He  took  his  first  mili- 
tary le.ssons  in  the  campaigns  against  Hannibal,  and  gained  the  fa- 
vor and  friendship  of  Fabius  Maximus.  He  was  also  patronized 
by  L.Valerius  Flaccus,  a  Roman  noble  in  his  neighborhood,  and 
a  warm  supporter  of  the  old  Roman  manners,  who  had  observed 
Cato's  eloquence,  as  well  as  his  martial  spirit.  Encouraged  by  Fa- 
bius and  Flaccus,  Cato  became  a  candidate  for  office,  and  was  elect- 
ed Quaestor  in  B.C.  204.  He  followed  P.  Scipio  Africanus  to  Sici- 
ly, but  there  was  not  that  cordiality  of  co-operation  between  Cato 
and  Scipio  which  ought  to  subsist  between  a  Quaestor  and  his  Pro- 
consul. Fabius  had  opposed  the  permission  given  to  Scipio  to  car- 
ry the  attack  into  the  enemy's  home,  and  Cato,  whose  appointment 
was  intended  to  operate  as  a  check  upon  Scipio,  adopted  the  views 
of  his  friend.  Cato  was  Prastor  in  Sardinia  in  B.C.  198,  where  he 
took  the  earliest  opportunity  of  illustrating  his  principles  by  his 
practice.  He  diminished  official  expenses,  walked  his  circuits  with 
a  single  attendant,  administered  justice  with  strict  impartiality,  and 
restrained  usury  with  unsparing  severity.  He  had  now  established 
a  reputation  for  pure  morality  and  strict  old-fashioned  virtue.  He 
was  looked  upon  as  the  living  type  and  representative  of  the  ideal 
ancient  Roman.  To  the  advancement  of  such  a  man  opposition 
was  vain.  In  B.C.  195  he  was  elected  Consul  with  his  old  friend 
and  patron  L.  Valerius  Flaccus.  During  his  consulship  a  strange 
scene  took  place  peculiarly  illustrative  of  Roman  manners.  In 
B.C.  215,  at  the  height  of  the  Punic  War,  a  law  had  been  passed, 
proposed  by  the  Tribune  Oppius,  that  no  woman  should  possess 
more  than  half  an  ounce  of  gold,  nor  wear  a  garment  of  divers  col- 
ors, nor  drive  a  carriage  with  horses  within  a  mile  of  the  city,  ex- 
cept for  the  purpose  of  attending  the  public  celebration  of  religious 
rites.  Now  that  Hannibal  was  conquered,  and  Rome  abounded 
with  Carthaginian  wealth,  there  being  no  longer  any  necessity  for 
women  to  contribute  toward  the  exigencies  of  an  impoverished 
treasury  the  savings  spared  from  their  ornaments  and  pleasures, 
two  Tribunes  thought  it  time  to  propose  the  abolition  of  the  Oppian 
law ;  but  they  were  opposed  by  two  of  their  colleagues.  The  most 
important  affairs  of  state  excited  far  less  interest  and  zeal  than 
this  singular  contest.  The  matrons  blockaded  every  avenue  to  the 
forum,  and  intercepted  their  husbnnds  as  they  approached,  beseech- 

I 


130  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XVIII. 

ing  them  to  restore  the  ancient  ornaments  of  the  Roman  matrons. 
Even  Flaccus  wavered,  but  his  colleague  Cato  was  inexorable.  Fi- 
nally, the  women  carried  the  day.  Worn  out  by  their  importunity, 
the  two  Tribunes  withdrew  their  opposition,  and  the  hated  law  was 
abolished  by  the  suffrage  of  all  the  tribes. 

Cato's  campaign  in  Spain  during  his  Consulship,  which  added 
greatly  to  his  military  reputation,  has  been  already  related.  He 
afterward  served  in  Greece  under  M.  Glabrio,  where  he  distinguish- 
ed himself  at  the  battle  of  Thermopylae  fought  against  Antiochus 
(B.C.  191). 

The  victory  of  Zama  had  made  P.  Scipio  Africanus  the  first  man 
in  the  Republic,  and  for  a  time  silenced  all  his  enemies.  But  the 
party  of  Fabius  still  cherished  their  old  animosity  against  him,  and 
Cato  inherited  the  hatred  of  his  friend  and  patron.  After  the  re- 
turn of  P.  Scipio  and  his  brother  Lucius  from  the  war  against  An- 
tiochus, they  were  charged  with  having  been  bribed  to  let  off  the 
Syrian  monarch  too  leniently,  and  of  having  appropriated  to  their 
own  use  a  portion  of  the  money  which  had  been  paid  by  Antiochus' 
to  the  Roman  state.  The  first  blow  was  directed  against  Lucius 
Scipio.  At  the  instigation  of  Cato,  the  two  Petillii  Tribunes  of 
the  people  required  Lucius  to  render  an  account  of  all  sums  of 
money  which  he  had  received  from  Antiochus.  Lucius  according- 
ly prepared  his  accounts ;  but,  as  he  was  in  the  act  of  delivering 
them  up,  the  proud  conqueror  of  Hannibal  indignantly  snatched 
them  out  of  his  hands,  and  tore  them  in  pieces,  saying  "  it  was  un- 
worthy to  call  to  account  for  a  few  thousands  a  man  who  had  paid 
millions  into  the  treasury."  But  this  haughty  conduct  appears  to 
have  produced  an  unfavorable  impression,  and  his  brother,  when 
brought  to  trial  in  the  course  of  the  same  year,  was  declared  guilty, 
and  sentenced  to  pay  a  heavy  fine.  The  Tribune  ordered  him  to 
be  dragged  to  prison,  and  there  detained  till  the  money  was  paid ; 
whereupon  Africanus,  still  more  enraged  at  this  fresh  insult  to  his 
family,  and  setting  himself  above  the  laws,  rescued  his  brother 
from  the  hands  of  the  Tribune's  officer.  The  contest  would  proba- 
bly have  been  attended  with  fatal  results  had  not  Tib.  Gracchus, 
the  father  of  the  celebrated  Tribune,  and  then  Tribune  himself,  had 
the  prudence,  although  he  disapproved  of  the  violent  conduct  of 
Africanus,  to  release  his  brother  Lucius  from  the  sentence  of  im- 
prisonment. 

The  successful  issue  of  the  prosecution  of  Lucius  emboldened 
his  enemies  to  bring  the  great  Africanus  himself  before  the  people. 
His  accuser  was  the  Tribune  M.  Naevius.  When  the  trial  came 
on,  Scipio  did  not  condescend  to  say  a  single  word  in  refutation  of 
the  charges  that  had  been  brought  against  him,  but  descanted  long 


B.C.  183.  P.  SCIPIO  AFRICAN  US.  131 

and  eloquently  upon  the  signal  services  he  had  rendered  to  the 
commonwealth.  Having  spoken  till  nightfall,  the  trial  was  ad- 
journed till  the  following  day.  Early  next  morning,  when  the 
Tribunes  had  taken  their  seats  on  the  rostra,  and  Africanus  was 
summoned,  he  proudly  reminded  the  people  that  this  \vns  the  an- 
niversary of  the  day  on  which  he  had  defeated  Hannibal  at  Zama, 
and  called  upon  them  to  neglect  all  disputes  and  lawsuits,  and  fol- 
low him  to  the  Capitol,  there  to  return  thanks  to  the  immortal 
gods,  and  pray  that  they  would  grant  the  Roman  state  other  citi- 
zens like  himself.  Scipio  struck  a  chord  which  vibrated  in  every 
heart ;  their  veneration  for  the  hero  returned ;  and  he  was  followed 
by  such  crowds  to  the  Capitol  that  the  Tribunes  were  left  alone  in 
the  rostra.  Having  thus  set  all  the  laws  at  defiance,  Scipio  immc. 
diately  quitted  Rome,  and  retired  to  his  country  seat  at  Liternum, 
The  Tribunes  wished  to  renew  the  prosecution,  but  Gracchus  wise- 
ly  persuaded  them  to  let  it  drop.  Scipio  never  returned  to  Rome. 
He  would  neither  submit  to  the  laws,  nor  aspire  to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  state,  and  he  therefore  resolved  to  expatriate  himself  for. 
ever.  He  passed  his  remaining  days  in  the  cultivation  of  his  es~ 
tate  at  Liternum,  and  at  his  death  is  said  to  have  requested  that 
his  body  might  be  buried  there,  and  not  in  his  ungrateful  country 
(B.C.  183). 

Hannibal  perished  in  the  same  year  as  his  great  opponent. 
Scipio  was  the  only  member  of  the  Senate  who  opposed  the  un- 
worthy persecution  which  the  Romans  employed  against  their  once 
dreaded  foe.  Each  of  these  great  men,  possessing  true  nobility  of 
soul,  could  appreciate  the  other's  merits.  A  story  is  told  that 
Scipio  was  one  of  the  embassadors  sent  to  Antiochus  at  Ephesus, 
at  whose  court  Hannibal  was  then  residing,  and  that  he  there  had 
an  interview  with  the  great  Carthaginian,  who  declared  him  the 
greatest  general  that  ever  lived.  The  compliment  was  paid  in  a 
manner  the  most  flattering  to  Scipio.  The  latter  had  asked,  "  Who 
was  the  greatest  general?"  "  Alexander  the  Great,"  was  Hanni- 
bal's reply.  "Who  was  the  second?"  "Pyrrhus."  "Who  was 
the  third?"  "  Myself,"  replied  the  Carthaginian.  "What  would 
ryou  have  said,  then,  if  you  had  conquered  me  ?"  asked  Scipio,  in 
astonishment.  "  I  should  then  have  placed  myself  above  Alexan- 
der, Pyrrhus,  and  all  other  generals." 

After  the  defeat  of  Antiochus,  Hannibal,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  took  up  his  abode  with  Prusias,  king  of  Bithynia,  and  there 
found  for  some  years  a  secure  asylum.  But  the  Romans  could 
not  be  at  ease  so  long  as  Hannibal  lived,  and  T.  Flamininus  was 
at  length  dispatched  to  the  court  of  Prusias  to  demand  the  surren- 
der of  the  fugitive.  The  Bithynian  king  was  unable  to  resist ;  but 


132  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CIIAI-.  XVIII. 

Hannibal,  who  had  long  been  in  expectation  of  such  an  event,  took 
poison  to  avoid  falling  into  the  hands  of  his  implacable  foes. 

We  now  return  to  Cato,  whose  Censorship  (B.C.  184)  was  a  great 
epoch  in  his  life.  He  applied  himself  strenuously  to  the  duties  of 
his  office,  regardless  of  the  enemies  he  was  making.  He  repaired 
the  water-courses,  paved  the  reservoirs,  cleansed  the  drains,  raised 
the  rents  paid  by  the  publicani  for  farming  the  taxes,  and  dimin- 
ished the  contract-prices  disbursed  by  the  state  to  the  undertakers 
sf  public  works.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  great  abuses  existed 
in  the  management  of  the  public  finances,  with  which  nothing  but 
the  undaunted  courage  and  administrative  abilities  of  Cato  could 
have  successfully  grappled.  He  was  disturbing  a  nest  of  hornets, 
and  all  his  future  life  was  troubled  by  their  buzz,  and  their  at- 
tempts to  sting.  But,  .though  he  was  accused  no  fewer  than  forty- 
four  times  during  the  course  of  his  life,  it  was  only  once  that  his 
enemies  prevailed  against  him.  His  enactments  agaist  luxury 
were  severe  and  stringent.  He  levied  a  heavy  tax  upon  expensive 
elaves  and  costly  furniture  and  dress.  He  justly  degraded  from 
the  Senate  L.  Plamininus  for  the  act  of  abominable  cruelty  in  Gaul 
which  has  been  already  narrated.* 

The  strong  national  prejudices  of  Cato  appear  to  have  diminish- 
ed in  force  as  he  grew  older  and  wiser.  He  applied  himself  in  old 
age  to  the  study  of  Greek  literature,  with  which  in  youth  he  had 
no  acquaintance,  although  he  was  not  ignorant  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage. Himself  an  historian  and  orator,  the  excellences  of  De- 
mosthenes and  Thucydides  made  a  deep  impression  upon  his  kin- 
dred mind.  But  throughout  life  his  conduct  was  guided  by  preju- 
dices against  classes  and  nations  whose  influence  he  deemed  to  be 
hostile  to  the  simplicity  of  the  old  Roman  character.  When  Eu- 
menes,  king  of  Pergamus,  visited  Rome  after  the  war  with  Antio- 
chus,  and  was  received  with  honor  by  the  Senate,  and  splendidly 
entertained  by  the  nobles,  Cato  was  indignant  at  the  respect  paid 
to  the  monarch,  refused  to  go  near  him,  and  declared  that  "kings 
were  naturally  carnivorous  animals."  He  had  an  antipathy  to 
physicians,  because  they  were  mostly  Greeks,  and  therefore  unfit 
to  be  trusted  with  Roman  lives.  He  loudly  cautioned  his  eldest 
son  against  them,  and  dispensed  with  their  attendance.  When 
Athens  sent  three  celebrated  philosophers,  Carneades,  Diogenes, 
and  Critolans,  to  Rome,  in  order  to  negotiate  a  remission  of  the  500 
talents  which  the  Athenians  had  been  awarded  to  pay  to  the  Oro- 
pians,  Carneades  excited  great  attention  by  his  philosophical  con- 
versation and  lectures,  in  which  he  preached  the  pernicious  doctrine 
of  an  expediency  distinct  from  justice,  which  he  illustrated  by  tho 
•  See  p.  127. 


B.C.  184.  M.  PORCIUS  CATO.  183 

example  of  Rome  herself:  "If  Rome  were  stripped  of  all  that  she 
did  not  justly  gain,  the  Romans  might  go  back  to  their  huts."  Cato, 
offended  with  his  principles,  and  jealous  of  the  attention  paid  to  the 
Greek,  gave  advice  which  the  Senate  followed:  "Let  these  depu- 
ties have  an  answer,  and  a  polite  dismissal  as  soon  as  possible." 

Cato  was  an  unfeeling  and  cruel  master.  His  conduct  toward 
his  slaves  was  detestable.  The  law  held  them  to  be  mere  chattels, 
and  he  treated  them  as  such,  without  any  regard  to  the  rights  of 
humanity.  After  supper  he  often  severely  chastised  them,  thong 
in  hand,  for  trifling  acts  of  negligence,  and  sometimes  condemned 
them  to  death.  When  they  were  worn  out,  or  useless,  he  sold 
them,  or  turned  them  out  of  doors.  He  treated  the  lower  animals 
no  better.  His  war-horse,  which  bore  him  through  his  campaign 
in  Spain,  he  sold  before  he  left  the  country,  that  the  state  might 
not  be  charged  with  the  expenses  of  its  transport.  As  years  ad- 
vanced he  sought  gain  with  increasing  eagerness,  but  never  at- 
tempted to  profit  by  the  misuse  of  his  public  functions.  He  ac- 
cepted no  bribes ;  he  reserved  no  booty  to  his  own  use ;  but  he 
became  a  speculator,  not  only  in  slaves,  but  in  buildings,  artificial 
waters,  and  pleasure-grounds.  In  this,  as  in  other  points,  he  was 
a  representative  of  the  old  Romans,  who  were  a  money-getting  and 
money-loving  people. 


Island  in  the  Tiber,  with  the  Fabrician  and  Cestian  Bridges. 
CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   THIRD  MACEDONIAN,  ACHvEAN,  AND  THIRD   PUNIC   WARS. 
B.C.  179-14G. 

IN  B.C.  179  Philip  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Persens, 
the  last  monarch  of  Macedonia.  The  latter  years  of  the  reign  of 
Philip  had  been  spent  in  preparations  for  a  renewal  of  the  war, 
which  he  foresaw  to  be  inevitable ;  and  when  Perseus  ascended  the 
throne,  he  found  himself  amply  provided  with  men  and  money  for 
the  impending  contest.  But,  whether  from  a  sincere  desire  of 
peace,  or  from  irresolution  of  character,  he  sought  to  avert  an  open 
rupture  as  long  as  possible,  and  one  of  the  first  acts  of  his  reign 
was  to  obtain  from  the  Romans  a  renewal  of  tlie  treaty  which  they 
had  concluded  with  his  father.  It  is  probable  that  neither  party 
was  sincere  in  the  conclusion  of  this  peace,  at  least  neither  could 
entertain  any  hope  of  its  duration ;  yet  a  period  of  seven  years 
elapsed  before  the  mutual  enmity  of  the  two  powers  broke  out  into 
open  hostilities.  Meanwhile, Perseus  was  not  idle;  he  secured  the 
attachment  of  his  subjects  by  equitable  and  popular  measures,  and 
formed  alliances  not  only  with  the  Greeks  and  the  Asiatic  princes, 
but  also  with  the  Thracian,  Illyrianj  and  Celtic  tribes  which  sur- 


B  C.  171-1G7.  MACEDONIAN  WAR.  135 

rounded  his  dominions.  The  Romans  naturally  viewed  these  pro- 
ceedings with  jealousy  and  suspicion;  and  at  length,  in  17li,  Per- 
seus was  formally  accused  before  the  Roman  Senate  by  Eumenes, 
king  of  Pergamus,  in  person,  of  entertaining  hostile  designs  against 
the  Roman  power.  The  murder  of  Eumenes  near  Delphi,  on  his 
return  homeward,  of  which  Perseus  was  suspected,  aggravated  the 
feeling  against  him  at  Rome,  and  in  the  following  year  war  \va» 
declared. 

Perseus  was  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  and  well-appointed  army, 
but  of  all  his  allies,  only  Cotys,  king  of  the  Odrysians,  ventured  to 
support  him  against  so  formidable  a  foe.  Yet  the  war  was  pro- 
tracted three  years  without  any  decisive  result ;  nay,  the  balance 
of  success  seemed  on  the  whole  to  incline  in  favor  of  Perseus,  and 
many  states,  which  before  were  wavering,  now  showed  a  disposition 
to  join  his  cause.  But  his  ill-timed  parsimony  restrained  him  from 
taking  advantage  of  their  offers,  and  in  B.C.  168  the  arrival  of  the 
Consul  L.  jEmilius  Paullus  completely  changed  the  aspect  of  af- 
fuirs.  Perseus  was  driven  from  a  strong  position  which  he  had 
taken  up  ou  the  banks  of  the  Enipeus,  forced  to  retreat  to  Pydna, 
and,  finally,  to  accept  an  engagement  near  that  town.  At  first  the 
serried  ranks  of  the  phalanx  seemed  to  promise  superiority ;  but 
its  order  having  been  broken  by  the  inequalities  of  the  ground, 
the  Roman  legionaries  penetrated  the  disordered  mass,  and  com- 
mitted fearful  carnage,  to  the  extent,  it  is  said,  of  20,000  men. 
Perseus  fled  first  to  Pella,  then  to  Amphipolis,  and  finally  to  the 
sanctuary  of  the  sacred  island  of  Samothrace,  but  was  at  length 
obliged  to  surrender  himself  to  a  Roman  squadron.  He  was  treat- 
ed with  courtesy,  but  was  reserved  to  adorn  the  triumph  of  his  con- 
queror. Such  was  the  end  of  the  Macedonian  empire.  The  Sen* 
nte  decreed  that  Macedonia  should  be  divided  into  four  districts, 
each  under  the  jurisdiction  of  an  oligarchical  council. 

Before  leaving  Greece,  Paullus  was  commanded  by  the  Senate 
to  inflict  a  terrible  punishment  upon  the  Epirotes,  because  they  had 
favored  Perseus.  Having  placed  garrisons  in  the  seventy  towns  of 
Epirus,  he  razed  them  all  to  the  ground  in  one  day,  and  carried 
away  150,000  inhabitants  as  slaves.  Epirus  never  recovered  from 
this  blow.  In  the  time  of  Augustus  the  country  was  still  a  scene 
of  desolation,  and  the  inhabitants  had  only  ruins  and  villages  to 
dwell  in. 

Paullus  arrived  in  Italy  toward  the  close  of  B.C.  167.  The  booty 
which  he  brought  with  him  from  Macedonia,  and  which  he  paid 
into  the  Roman  treasury,  was  of  enormous  value  ;  and  his  triumph, 
xvhich  lasted  three  days,  was  the  most  splendid  that  Rome  had  yet 
seen.  Before  his  triumphal  car  \valked  the  captive  monarch  of 


136  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XIX 

Macedonia,  and  behind  it,  on  horseback,  were  his  two  eldest  sons, 
Q.  Fabius  Maximus,  and  P.  Scipio  Africanus  the  younger,  both  of 
whom  had  been  adopted  into  other  families.  But  his  glory  was 
darkened  by  the  death  of  his  two  younger  sons,  one  dying  a  few 
days  before,  and  the  other  a  few  days  after  his  triumph. 

After  the  triumph  Perseus  was  thrown  into  a  dungeon,  but,  in 
consequence  of  the  intercession  of  Paullus,  he  was  released,  and 
permitted  to  end  his  days  in  an  honorable  captivity  at  Pella.  His 
son  Alexander  learned  the  Latin  language,  and  became  a  public 
clerk  at  Rome. 

The  fall  of  the  Macedonian  monarchy  made  Rome  the  real  mis- 
tress of  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  most 
haughty  monarchs  trembled  before  the  Republic.  Antiochus  Epiph- 
anes  had  invaded  Egypt,  and  was  inarching  upon  Alexandria,  when 
he  was  met  by  three  Roman  commissioners,  who  presented  him 
with  a  decree  of  the  Senate,  commanding  him  to  abstain  from  hos- 
tilities against  Egypt.  The  king,  having  read  the  decree,  prom- 
ised to  take  it  into  consideration  with  his  friends,  whereupon  I'o- 
pillius,  one  of  the  Roman  commissioners,  stepping  forward,  drew  n 
circle  round  the  king  with  his  staff,  and  told  him  that  he  should 
not  stir  out  of  it  till  he  had  given  a  decisive  answer.  The  king 
was  so  frightened  by  this  boldness  that  he  immediately  promised 
to  withdraw  his  troops.  Eumenes,  king  of  Pergamus,  whose  con- 
duct during  the  war  with  Perseus  had  excited  the  suspicion  of  the 
Senate,  hastened  to  make  his  submission  in  person,  but  was  not  al- 
lowed to  enter  Rome.  Prusias,  king  of  Bithynia,  had  the  mean- 
ness to  appear  at  Rome  with  his  head  shaven,  and  in  the  dress  of 
a  liberated  slave.  The  Rhodians,  who  had  offered  their  mediation 
during  the  war  with  Perseus,  were  deprived  of  Lycia  and  Caria. 
In  Greece  itself  the  Senate  acted  in  the  same  arbitrary  manner. 
It  was  evident  that  they  meant  to  bring  the  whole  country  under 
their  sway.  In  these  views  they  were  assisted  by  various  despots 
and  traitors  in  the  Grecian  cities,  and  especially  by  Callicrates,  a 
man  of  great  influence  among  the  Achasans,  who  for  many  years 
had  lent  himself  as  the  base  tool  of  the  Romans.  He  now  de- 
nounced more  than  a  thousand  Achasans  as  having  favored  the 
cause  of  Perseus.  Among  them  were  the  historian  Polybius,  and 
the  most  distinguished  men  in  every  city  of  the  League.  They 
were  all  apprehended  and  sent  to  Italy,  where  they  were  distrib- 
uted among  the  cities  of  Etruria,  without  being  brought  to  trial. 
Polybius  alone  was  allowed  to  reside  at  Rome  in  the  house  of  JEmil- 
ius  Paullus,  where  he  became  the  intimate  friend  of  his  son  Scipio 
Africanus  the  younger.  The  Achajan  League  continued  to  exist, 
but  it  was  really  subject  to  Callicrates.  The  Achaean  exiles  Ian- 


B.C.  147-146.  ACHJEAN  WAR.  137 

guished  in  confinement  for  seventeen  years.  Their  request  to  be 
allowed  to  return  to  their  native  land  had  been  more  th:in  once 
refused ;  but  the  younger  Scipio  Africanus  at  length  interceded  on 
their  behalf,  and  prevailed  upon  Cato  to  advocate  their  return. 
The  conduct  of  the  aged  Senator  was  kinder  than  his  words.  He 
did  not  interpose  till  the  end  of  a  long  debate,  and  then  simply 
asked,  "  Have  we  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  sit  here  all  day  long 
debating  whether  a  parcel  of  worn-out  Greeks  shall  be  carried  to 
their  graves  here  or  in  Achaia  ?"  A  decree  of  the  Senate  gave  the 
exiles  permission  to  return  ;  but,  when  Polybius  was  anxious  to  ob- 
tain from  the  Senate  restoration  to  their  former  honors,  Cato  bade 
him,  with  a  smile,  beware  of  returning  to  the  Cyclops'  den  to  fetch 
away  any  trifles  he  had  left  behind  him. 

The  Achajan  exiles,  whose  numbers  were  now  reduced  from 
1000  to  300,  landed  in  Greece  (B.C.  151)  with  feelings  exasperated 
by  their  long  confinement,  and  ready  to  indulge  in  any  rash  enter- 
prise -against  Rome.  Polybius,  who  had  returned  with  the  other 
exiles,  in  vain  exhorted  them  to  peace  and  unanimity,  and  to  avoid 
a  hopeless  struggle  with  the  Roman  power.  Shortly  afterward 
an  adventurer  laid  claim  to  the  throne  of  Macedonia  (B.C.  149). 
He  was  a  man  of  low  origin  called  Andriscus,  but  he  pretended 
to  be  the  son  of  Perseus,  and  assumed  the  name  of  Philippus.  At 
first  he  met  with  some  success,  and  defeated  the  Roman  Prater 
Juventius,  but,  after  reigning  scarcely  a  year,  he  was  conquered 
and  taken  prisoner  by  Q.  Metellus. 

The  temporary  success  of  Andriscus  had  encouraged  the  war- 
party  in  the  Achaean  League.  Polybius  had  quitted  the  country 
to  join  his  friend  Scipio  in  Africa ;  and  Diseus  and  Critolaiis,  the 
most  violent  enemies  of  Rome,  had  now  undisputed  sway  in  the 
League.  Discus  incited  the  Achaeans  to  attack  Sparta,  on  the 
ground  that,  instead  of  appealing  to  the  League  respecting  a 
boundary  question,  as  they  ought  to  have  done,  they  had  violated 
its  laws  by  sending  a  private  embassy  to  Rome.  The  Spartans, 
feeling  themselves  incompetent  to  resist  this  attack,  appealed  to 
the  Romans  for  assistance ;  and  in  B.C.  147  two  Roman  commis- 
sioners were  sent  to  Greece  to  settle  these  disputes.  The  com- 
missioners decided  that  not  only  Sparta,  but  Corinth,  and  all  the 
other  cities,  except  those  of  Achaia,  should  be  restored  to  inde- 
pendence. Their  decision  occasioned  serious  riots  at  Corinth. 
All  the  Spartans  in  the  town  were  seized,  and  even  the  Roman 
commissioners  narrowly  escaped  violence.  On  their  return  to 
Rome  a  fresh  embassy  was  dispatched  to  demand  satisfaction  for 
these  outrages.  But  the  violent  and  impolitic  conduct  of  Crito- 
laiis, then  Strategus  of  the  League,  rendered  all  attempts  at  accom* 


1.38  HISTORY  OF  EOME.  CIIAP.  XIX. 

modation  fruitless,  and,  after  the  return  of  the  embassadors,  the 
Senate  declared  war  against  the  League.  The  cowardice  and  in- 
competence of  Critolaiis  as  a  general  were  only  equaled  by  hia 
previous  insolence.  On  the  approach  of  the  Romans  from  Mace- 
donia under  Metellus  he  did  not  even  venture  to  make  a  stand  at 
Thermopylae  ;  and,  being  overtaken  by  them  near  Scarphea,  in  Lo» 
cris,  he  was  totally  defeated,  and  never  again  heard  of.  Dianis, 
.vho  succeeded  him  as  Strategus,  displayed  rather  more  energy  and 
courage,  and  made  preparations  to  defend  Corinth.  Metellus  had 
hoped  to  have  had  the  honor  of  bringing  the  war  to  a  conclusion, 
and  had  almost  reached  Corinth,  when  the  Consul  L.  Mummiua 
landed  on  the  Isthmus  and  assumed  the  command.  The  struggle 
was  soon  brought  to  a  close.  Diasus  was  defeated  in  battle ;  and 
Corinth  was  immediately  evacuated,  not  only  by  the  troops  of  the 
League,  but  also  by  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants.  On  enter- 
ing the  city,  Mummius  put  to  the  sword  the  few  males  who  remain- 
ed, Fold  the  women  and  children  as  slaves,  and,  having  carried 
away  all  its  treasures,  consigned  it  to  the  flames  (B.C.  146).  Cor- 
inth was  filled  with  masterpieces  of  ancient  art ;  but  Mummius  was 
so  insensible  to  their  surpassing  excellence  as  to  stipulate  with 
those  who  contracted  to  convey  them  to  Italy  that,  if  any  were  lost 
i.i  the  passage,  they  should  be  replaced  by  others  of  equal  value! 
Mummius  then  employed  himself  in  chastising  and  regulating  the 
•\\hole  of  Greece  ;  and  ten  commissioners  were  sent  from  Rome  to 
settle  its  future  condition.  The  whole  country,  to  the  borders  of 
Macedonia  and  Epirus,  was  formed  into  a  Roman  province,  under 
the  name  of  Achaia,  derived  from  that  confederacy  which  had  made 
the  last  struggle  for  political  existence.  The  Roman  commission, 
ers  then  proceeded  northward,  and  also  formed  Macedonia  into  a 
province.  Polybius,  who  had  hastened  to  Greece  immediately  after 
the  capture  of  Corinth,  exerted  all  his  influence  to  alleviate  the 
misfortunes  of  his  countrymen,  and  to  procure  for  them  favorable 
terms.  As  a  friend  of  Scipio  he  was  received  by  the  Roman  com- 
missioners with  great  distinction,  and  obtained  from  them  a  relax- 
ttion  of  some  of  the  most  severe  enactments  which  had  been  made 
igainst  the  Achaans. 

Metellus  and  Mummius  both  triumphed  on  their  return  to  Rome, 
Hie  former  taking  the  surname  of  Macedonicus,  the  latter  that  of 
•Achaicus. 

Carthage,  so  long  the  rival  of  Rome,  had  fallen  in  the  same  year 
as  Corinth.  The  reforms  introduced  by  Hannibal  after  the  battle 
of  Zama  had  restored  some  degree  of  prosperity  to  the  state ;  and, 
though  the  Roman  party  obtained  the  supremacy  after  he  had  been 
compelled  to  fly  to  Antiochus,  the  commercial  activity  of  the  Ca» 


B.C.  150.  THIRD  PUNIC  WAR.  139 

tlia/inhuis  restored  to  the  city  much  of  its  forme*  influence.  Romo 
looked  with  a  jealous  eye  upon  its  reviving  power,  and  encouraged 
Masinissa  to  make  repeated  aggressions  upon  its  territory.  At 
length  the  popuhr  party,  having  ohtained  more  weight  in  the  gov- 
ernment, made  a  stand  against  these  repeated  encroachments  of 
Masinissa.  Thereupon  Cato  recommended  an  instant  declaration 
of  war  against  Carthage ;  but  this  met  with  considerable  opposition 
in  the  Senate,  and  it  was  at  length  arranged  that  an  embassy  should 
be  sent  to  Africa  to  gain  information  as  to  the  real  state  of  affairs. 
The  ten  embassadors,  of  whom  Cato  was  the  chief,  offered  their 
arbitration,  which  was  accepted  by  Masinissa,  but  rejected  by  the 
Carthaginians,  who  had  no  confidence  in  Roman  justice.  The 
deputies  accurately  observed  the  warlike  preparations  and  the  de- 
fenses of  the  frontier.  They  then  entered  the  city,  and  saw  the 
strength  and  population  it  had  acquired  since  the  Second  Punic 
War.  Upon  their  return  Cato  was  the  foremost  in  asserting  that 
Rome  would  never  be  safe  as  long  as  Carthage  was  so  powerful,  so 
hostile,  and  so  near.  One  day  he  drew  a  bunch  of  early  ripe  figs 
from  beneath  his  robe,  and,  throwing  it  upon  the  floor  of  the  Sen- 
ate-house, said  to  the  assembled  fathers,  who  were  astonished  at 
the  freshness  and  fineness  of  the  fruit,  "Those  figs  were  gathered 
but  three  days  ago  at  Carthage;  so  close  is  our  enemy  to  our 
walls."  From  that  time  forth,  whenever  he  was  called  upon  for 
his  vote  in  the  Senate,  though  the  subject  of  debate  bore  no  rela- 
tion to  Carthage,  his  words  were,  "Delendn.  est  Carthago, ""Car- 
thage must  be  destroyed."* 

Cato's  opinion  prevailed,  and  the  Senate  only  waited  for  a  favor- 
able opportunity  to  destroy  the  city.  This  soon  occurred.  The 
popular  party  having  driven  into  exile  the  powerful  partisans  of 
Masinissn,  the  old  Numidian  king  invaded  the  Carthaginian  terri- 
tory, and  defeated  the  army  which  had  been  raised  to  oppose  him 
(n.c.  150).  This  led  to  a  change  in  the  government,  and  the  aris- 
tocratical  party,  once  more  restored  to  power,  hastened  to  make 
their  submission  to  Rome.  But  the  Romans  had  resolved  upon 
war,  and.  when  the  Carthaginian  embassadors  arrived  at  Rome, 
the  two  Consuls  were  already  levying  troops.  The  embassadors, 
knowing  that  resistance  was  hopeless,  sought  to  appease  the  anger 
of  the  Senate  by  unconditional  obedience.  They  were  ordered  to 
send  300  youths  of  the  noblest  families  to  meet  the  Consuls  at 
Lilybomm,  and  were  told  that  the  Consuls  would  acquaint  them 
with  the  farther  orders  of  the  Senate.  At  Lilybaeum  the  Consuls 

*  This  story  must  appear  strange  to  tho?e  who  know  not  that  it  was  a  custom 
for  Homan  Senators,  when  called  upon  for  their  vote,  to  express — no  matter  what 
the  question — any  opinion  which  they  deemed  of  great  importance  to  the  welfare 
of  tUe  state. 


140  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XIX 

found  the  hostages  awaiting  them,  and  then  promised  the  Car- 
thaginian envoys  that  the  decision  of  the  Senate  should  be  an- 
nounced to  them  in  Africa.  Upon  reaching  Utica,  which  surren- 
dered to  them  in  despair,  the  Consuls  informed  the  Carthaginians 
that,  as  their  state  would  henceforth  be  under  the  protection  of 
Rome,  they  had  no  longer  any  occasion  for  arms,  and  must  sur- 
render all  the  munitions  of  war.  Even  this  demand  was  complied 
with,  and  the  Roman  commissioners  who  were  sent  to  Carthage 
brought  to  the  Roman  camp  200,000  stand  of  arms,  and  2000  cata- 
pults. The  Consuls,  thinking  that  the  state  was  now  defenseless, 
threw  off  the  mask,  and  announced  the  final  resolution  of  the  Sen- 
ate: "That  Carthage  must  be  destroyed,  and  that  its  inhabitants 
must  build  another  city  ten  miles  distant  from  the  coast."  When 
this  terrible  news  reached  Carthage,  despair  and  rage  seized  all 
the  citizens.  They  resolved  to  perish  rather  than  submit  to  so  per- 
fidious a  foe.  All  the  Italians  within  the  walls  were  massacred ; 
the  members  of  the  former  government  took  to  flight,  and  the  pop- 
ular party  once  more  obtained  the  power.  Almost  superhuman  ef- 
forts were  made  to  obtain  means  of  defense ;  corn  was  collected 
from  every  quarter ;  arms  were  manufactured  day  and  night ;  the 
women  cut  off  their  long  hair  to  be  made  into  strings  for  the  cata- 
pults, and  the  whole  city  became  one  vast  work-shop.  The  Con- 
suls now  saw  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  force ; 
but  they  had  no  military  ability,  and  their  attacks  were  repulsed 
with  great  loss.  The  younger  Scipio  Africanus,  who  was  then 
serving  in  the  army  as  military  tribune,  displayed  great  bravery 
and  military  skill,  and,  on  one  occasion,  saved  the  army  from  de- 
struction. Still  no  permanent  success  was  gained,  and  Scipio  re- 
turned to  Rome,  accompanied  by  the  prayers  of  the  soldiers  that 
he  would  come  back  as  their  commander.  In  the  following  year 
(B.C.  148)  the  new  Consul  L.  Calpurnius  Piso  was  even  less  suc- 
cessful than  his  predecessors.  The  soldiers  became  discontented  •, 
the  Roman  Senate  and  people,  who  had  anticipated  an  easy  con- 
quest, were  indignant  at  their  disappointment,  and  all  eyes  were 
turned  to  Scipio.  Accordingly,  when  he  became  a  candidate  for 
the  asdileship  for  the  ensuing  year  (B.C.  H7),  he  was  unanimously 
elected  Consul,  though  he  was  only  thirty-seven  years  old,  and  had 
not,  therefore,  attained  the  legal  age  for  the  office. 

This  remarkable  man  was,  as  we  have  already  said,  the  son  of 
L.  JEmilius  Paullus,  the  conqueror  of  Macedonia.  He  was  adopt- 
ed by  P.  Scipio,  the  son  of  the  great  Africanus,  and  is  therefore 
called  Scipio  Africanus  Minor,  to  distinguish  him  from  his  grand- 
father by  adoption.  To  these  namss  that  of  vEmilianus  is  some- 
times added  to  mark  the  family  of  Iiis  birth,  so  that  his  full  desig- 


B.C.  147,        DESTRUCTION  OF  CAliTHAGE. 


141 


nation  was  P.  Cornelius  Scipio  Africanus  .ZEmilianus.  His  intima- 
cy with  the  historian  Polybius  has  been  already  mentioned.  Ho 
appears  from  his  earliest  years  to  have  devoted  himself  with  ardor 
to  the  study  of  literature ;  and  he  eagerly  availed  himself  of  the 
superior  knowledge  of  Polybius  to  direct  him  in  his  literary  pur- 
suits. He  was  accompanied  by  the  Greek  historian  in  almost  all 
his  campaigns,  and,  in  the  midst  of  his  most  active  military  duties, 
lost  no  opportunity  of  enlarging  his  knowledge  of  Greek  literature 
and  philosophy  by  constant  intercourse  with  his  friend.  Nor  did 
he  neglect  the  literature  of  his  own  country,  for  Terence  was  ad- 
mitted to  his  intimacy,  and  he  is  even  said  to  have  assisted  him 
in  the  composition  of  his  comedies.  His  friendship  with  Lailius, 
whose  tastes  and  pursuits  were  so  congenial  to  his  own,  has  been 
immortalized  by  Cicero's  celebrated  treatise  "On  Friendship." 
Scipio  landed  in  Africa  in  B.C.  147.  His  first  step  was  to  restore 


A.  Inner  Port. 
B    Outer  Port. 


Plan  of  Carthage. 

C.  Outlet  to  Sea.  I 

D.  Scipio's  Hoto. 


E.  New  Outlet  to  Sea,  cut  by 
the  Carthaginians. 


U2  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XIX. 

discipline  to  the  army.  He  next  took  by  storm  Megara,  a  suburb 
of  Carthage,  and  then  proceeded  to  construct  a  work  across  the 
entrance  of  the  harbor  to  cut  off  the  city  from  all  supplies  by  sea. 
But  the  Carthaginians  defended  themselves  with  a  courage  and  an 
energy  rarely  paralleled  in  history.  While  Scipio  was  engaged  in 
this  laborious  task,  they  built  a  fleet  of  fifty  ships  in  their  inner 
port,  and  cut  a  new  channel  communicating  with  the  sea.  Hence, 
when  Scipio  at  length  succeeded  in  blocking  up  the  entrance  of  the 
harbor,  he  found  all  his  labor  useless,  as  the  Carthaginians  sailed 
out  to  sea  by  the  new  outlet.  But  this  fleet  was  destroyed  after  an 
obstinate  engagement  which  lasted  three  days.  At  length,  in  the 
following  year  (B.C.  146),  Scipio  had  made  all  his  preparations  for 
the  final  assault.  The  Carthaginians  defended  themselves  with 
the  courage  of  despair.  They  fought  from  street  to  street,  and 
from  house  to  house,  and  the  work  of  destruction  and  butchery 
went  on  for  six  days.  The  fate  of  this  once  magnificent  city  moved 
Scipio  to  tears ;  and,  anticipating  that  a  similar  catastrophe  might 
one  day  befall  Rome,  he  is  said  to  have  repeated  the  lines  of  the 
Iliad  over  the  flames  of  Carthage:  "The  day  shall  come  when 
sacred  Troy  shall  perish,  and  Priam  and  his  people  shall  be  slain." 

Scipio  returned  to  Rome  in  the  same  year,  and  celebrated  a 
splendid  triumph  on  account  of  his  victory.  The  surname  of  Af- 
ricanus,  which  he  had  inherited  by  adoption,  had  now  been  ac- 
quired by  his  own  exploits. 

A  portion  of  the  dominions  of  Carthage  was  assigned  to  Utica, 
The  remainder  was  formed  into  a  Roman  province  under  the  name 
of  Africa.  Carthage  itself  was  leveled  to  the  ground,  and  a  curse 
pronounced  upon  any  who  should  rebuild  the  city.  C.  Gracchus, 
however,  only  twenty-four  years  afterward,  attempted  to  found  a 
new  city  upon  the  ancient  site  under  the  name  of  Junonia ;  but 
evil  prodigies  at  its  foundation,  and  the  subsequent  death  of  Grac- 
chus, interrupted  this  design.  The  project  was  revived  by  Julius 
Caesar,  and  was  carried  into  effect  by  Augustus  ;  and  Roman  Car- 
thage, built  at  a  short  distance  from  the  former  city,  became  the 
capital  of  Africa,  and  one  of  the  most  flourishing  cities  in  the  an- 
cient world.  In  the  fifth  century  it  was  taken  by  Genseric,  and 
made  the  capital  of  the  Vandal  kingdom  in  Africa.  It  was  re- 
taken by  Belisarius,  but  was  finally  captured  and  destroyed  by  the 
Arabs  in  A.D.  647.  Its  site  is  now  desolate,  marked  only  by  a  few 


Personification  of  the  River  Tiber. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SPANISH   WARS,  B.C.  153-133.       FIRST    SERVILE   WAR,  B.C.  134-132. 

THE  generous  policy  of  Tib.  Sempronius  Gracchus  in  B.C.  179* 
had  secured  for  Spain  a  long  period  of  tranquillity.  But  in  B.C. 
153,  the  inhabitants  of  Segeda  having  commenced  rebuilding  the 
walls  of  their  town,  which  was  forbidden  by  one  of  the  articles  in 
the  treaty  of  Gracchus,  a  new  war  broke  out,  which  lasted  for  many 
years.  The  Celtiberians  in  general  espoused  the  cause  of  Segeda, 
and  the  Consul  Q.  Fabius  Nobilior  made  an  unsuccessful  campaign 
against  them.  His  successor,  the  Consul  M.  Claudius  Marcellus, 
grandson  of  the  Marcellus  who  was  celebrated  in  the  Second  Punic 
War,  carried  on  the  war  with  vigor,  and  concluded  a  peace  with  the 
enemy  on  very  fair  terms  (B.C.  152).  The  Consul  of  the  following 
year,  L.  Lucinius  Lucullus,  rinding  the  Celtiberians  at  peace,  turned 
his  arms  against  the  Vaccaei,  Cantabri,  and  other  nations  as  yet  un- 
known to  the  Romans.  At  the  same  time  the  Prsetor  Ser.  Sulpic- 
ius  Galba  invaded  Lusitania,  but,  though  he  met  with  some  advan- 
tage at  first,  he  was  subsequently  defeated  with  great  loss,  and  es- 
caped with  only  a  few  horsemen.  In  the  following  year  (B.C.  150) 
he  again  invaded  the  country  from  the  south,  while  Lucullus  attack- 
ed it  from  the  north.  The  Lusitanians  therefore  sent  embassadors 
*  See  p.  115. 


144  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XX. 

to  Galha  to  make  their  submission.  He  received  them  with  kind- 
ness, lamented  the  poverty  of  their  country,  and  promised  to  assign 
them  more  fertile  lands,  if  they  would  meet  him  in  three  bodies, 
vvitli  their  wives  and  children,  in  three  places  which  he  fixed  upon. 
The  simple  people  believed  him.  But  he  meditated  one  of  the 
most  atrocious  acts  of  treachery  and  cruelty  recorded  in  history. 
He  fell  upon  each  body  separately,  and  butchered  them,  men,  wom- 
en, and  children,  without  distinction.  Among  the  very  few  who 
escaped  was  Viriathus,  the  future  avenger  of  .his  nation.  Galba 
was  brought  to  trial  on  his  return  to  Rome  on  account  of  this  out- 
rage ;  and  Cato,  then  in  the  85th  year  of  his  age,  inveighed  against 
his  treachery  and  baseness.  But  Galba  was  eloquent  and  wealthy, 
and  the  liberal  employment  of  his  money,  together  with  the  com- 
passion excited  by  his  weeping  children  and  ward,  obtained  his  ac- 
quittal. 

Viriathus  appears  to  have  been  one  of  those  able  guerrilla  chiefs 
whom  Spain  has  produced  at  every  period  of  her  history.  He  is 
said  to  have  been  first  a  shepherd  and  afterward  a  robber,  but  he 
soon  acquired  unbounded  influence  over  the  minds  of  his  country- 
men. After  the  massacre  of  Galba,  those  Lusitanians  who  had  not 
left  their  homes  rose  as  a  man  against  the  rule  of  such  treacherous 
tyrants.  Viriathus  at  first  avoided  all  battles  in  the  plains,  and 
waged  an  incessant  predatory  warfare  in  the  mountains ;  and  he 
met  with  such  continued  good  fortune,  that  numbers  flocked  to  his 
standard.  The  aspect  of  affairs  seemed  at  length  so  threatening 
that  in  B.C.  145  the  Romans  determined  to  send  the  Consul  Q.  Fa- 
bius  Maximus  into  the  country.  In  the  following  year  Fabius  de- 
feated Viriathus  with  great  loss ;  but  this  success  was  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  the  revolt  of  the  Celtiberians,  the  bravest  and 
most  noble-minded  of  the  Spaniards.  The  war  is  usually  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Numantine,  from  Numantia,  a  town  on  the  River 
Douro,  and  the  capital  of  the  Arevaci,  the  most  powerful  of  the  Cel- 
tiberian  tribes. 

Henceforward  two  Roman  armies  were  employed  in  Spain,  one 
in  the  north  against  the  Celtiberians,  and  the  other  in  the  south 
against  Viriathus  and  the  Lusitanians.  The  war  against  the  Lusi- 
tanians was  at  first  brought  to  a  conclusion.  In  B.C.  141  Viriathus 
surprised  the  Proconsul  Fabius  Servilianus  in  a  narrow  pass,  where 
escape  was  impossible.  He  used  his  victory  with  moderation,  and 
suffered  the  Romans  to  depart  uninjured,  on  condition  of  their  al- 
lowing the  Lusitanians  to  retain  undisturbed  possession  of  their 
own  territory,  and  recognizing  him  as  a,  friend  and  ally  of  Rome. 
This  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  Roman  people ;  but  the  Consul  Q. 
Servilius  Cicpio,  who  succeeded  Fabius  in  the  command  in  south- 


B.C.  152-133.  WARS  IN  SPAIN.  145 

era  Spain,  found  some  pretext  for  violating  the  peace,  and  renewed 
the  war  against  Viriathus.  The  latter  sent  envoys  to  Cscpio  to  pro- 
pose fresh  terms  of  peace ;  but  the  Roman  Consul  persuaded  them, 
by  promises  of  large  rewards,  to  murder  their  general.  On  their 
return  they  assassinated  him  in  his  own  tent,  and  made  their  es- 
cape to  the  Roman  camp  before  the  Lusitanians  were  aware  of  the 
death  of  their  chief.  But,  when  the  murderers  claimed  their  re- 
ward, the  Consul  coolly  told  them  that  the  Romans  did  not  approve 
of  the  murder  of  a  general  by  his  own  soldiers.  The  Lusitanians 
continued  in  arms  a  little  longer,  but  the  war  virtually  terminated 
by  the  death  of  Vinathus.  Their  country  was  finally  reduced  to 
subjection  by  the  Consul  D.  Junius  Brutus  in  B.C.  138,  who  also 
crossed  the  rivers  Douro  and  Minho,  and  received  the  surname  of 
Calla'icus  in  consequence  of  his  receiving  the  submission  of  the  Cal- 
la'ici,  or  Gallajci,  a  people  in  the  northwest  of  Spain. 

The  war  against  the  Celtiberians  was  at  first  conducted  with 
success  by  the  Consul  Q.  Metellus  Maccdonicus,  who  during  his 
1'rojtorship  had  defeated  the  pretender  to  the  Macedonian  throne. 
But  the  successors  of  Metellus  experienced  repeated  disasters,  and 
at  length,  in  B.C.  137,  the  Consul  C.  Hostilius  Mancinus,  being  en- 
tirely surrounded  by  the  Celtiberians,  was  obliged  to  sign  a  peace 
with  them,  in  which  he  recognized  their  independence.  He  only 
obtained  these  terms  on  condition  that  his  Quaestor,  Tib.  Sempro- 
nius  Gracchus,  who  was  greatly  respected  by  the  Spaniards  for  his 
father's  sake,  should  become  responsible  for  the  execution  of  the 
treaty.  The  Senate  refused  to  ratify  it,  and  went  through  the  hyp- 
ocritical ceremony  of  delivering  over  Mancinus,  bound  and  naked, 
to  the  enemy.  But  the  Numantines,  like  the  Samnites  in  a  simi- 
lar case,  declined  to  accept  the  offering. 

The  Numantine  war  continued  in  the  same  disastrous  manner  to 
the  Roman  arms,  and  the  people  now  called  upon  Scipio  Africanus 
to  bring  it  to  a  conclusion.  We  have  already  traced  the  career  of 
this  eminent  man  till  the  fall  of  Carthage.  In  B.C.  142  he  was 
Censor  with  L.  Mummius.  In  the  administration  of  the  duties  of 
his  office  he  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Cato,  and  attempted  to 
repress  the  growing  luxury  and  immorality  of  his  contemporaries; 
but  his  efforts  were  thwarted  by  his  colleague.  He  vainly  wished 
to  check  in  the  people  the  appetite  for  foreign  conquests ;  and  in 
the  solemn  prayer  which  he  offered  at  the  conclusion  of  the  lus- 
trum he  changed  the  usual  supplication  for  the  enlargement  of  the 
Republic  into  one  for  its  preservation.  He  was  now  elected  Con- 
sul a  second  time,  and  was  sent  into  Spain  in  B.C.  134.  His  first 
efforts  were  directed,  as  in  Africa,  to  the  restoration  of  discipline 
in  the  armv,  which  had  become  disorganized  and  demoralized  by 

K 


146  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XX 

every  kind  of  indulgence.  Two  remarkable  men  served  under 
Scipio  in  this  war.  Harms,  afterward  seven  times  Consul,  and  the 
Numidian  prince  Jugurtha.  Having  brought  his  troops  into  an 
effective  condition,  Scipio,  in  the  following  year,  proceeded  to  lay 
siege  to  Nnmantia.  The  town  was  defended  by  its  inhabitants  with 
the  courage  and  perseverance  which  has  pre-eminently  distinguish- 
cd  the  Spaniards  in  all  ages  in  the  defense  of  their  walled  towns. 
It  was  not  till  they  had  suffered  the  most  dreadful  extremities  of 
f.miine,  eating  even  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  that  they  surrendered 
the  place  (B.C.  133).  Fifty  of  the  principal  inhabitants  were  se- 
lected to  adorn  Scipio's  triumph  ;  the  rest  were  sold  as  slaves,  and 
the  town  was  leveled  to  the  gi'ound.  He  now  received  the  sur- 
name of  Numantinus,  in  addition  to  that  of  Africanus. 

During  the  Numantine  war  Rome  was  menaced  by  a  new  dan- 
ger, which  revealed  one  of  the  plague-spots  in  the  Republic.  We 
have  already  had  occasion  to  describe  the  decay  of  the  free  popu- 
lation in  Italy,  and  the  great  increase  in  the  number  of  slaves 
from  the  foreign  conquests  of  the  state.*  As  slaves  were  cheap, 
in  consequence  of  the  abundant  supply,  the  masters  did  not  care  for 
their  lives,  and  treated  them  with  great  barbarity.  A  great  part 
of  the  land  in  Italy  was  turned  into  sheep-walks.  The  slaves  were 
made  responsible  for  the  sheep  committed  to  their  care,  and  were 
left  to  supply  themselves  with  food  as  they  best  could.  It  was  an 
aggravation  of  their  wretched  lot,  that  almost  all  these  slaves  had 
once  been  freemen,  and  were  not  distinguished  from  their  masters 
by  any  outward  sign,  like  the  negroes  in  the  United  States.  In 
Sicily  the  free  population  had  diminished  even  more  than  in  Italy  ; 
and  it  was  in  this  island  that  the  first  Servile  War  broke  out.  Da- 
mophilus,  a  wealthy  landowner  of  Enna,  had  treated  his  slaves  with 
excessive  barbarity.  They  entered  into  a  conspiracy  against  their 
cruel  master,  and  consulted  a  Syrian  slave  of  the  name  of  Eunus, 
who  belonged  to  another  master.  This  Eunus  pretended  to  the 
gift  of  prophecy,  and  appeared  to  breathe  flames  of  fire  from  his 
mouth.  He  not  only  promised  them  success,  but  joined  in  the  en- 
terprise himself.  Having  assembled  to  the  number  of  about  400 
men,  they  suddenly  attacked  Enna,  and,  being  joined  by  their  fel- 
low-citizens within  the  town,  quickly  made  themselves  masters  of 
it.  Great  excesses  were  committed,  and  almost  all  the  freemen 
were  put  to  death  with  horrid  tortures.  Eunus  had,  while  yet  a 
slave,  prophesied  that  he  should  become  king.  He  now  assumed 
the  royal  diadem,  and  the  title  of  King  Antiochus.  Sicily  was  at 
this  time  swarming  with  slaves,  a  great  proportion  of  them  Syrians, 
who  flocked  to  the  standard  of  their  countryman  and  fellow-honds- 
•  Sac  p.  12a 


B.C.  134-132.          FIRST  SERVILE  WAR.  147 

man.  The  revolt  now  became  general,  and  the  island  was  deliv- 
ered over  to  the  murderous  fury  of  men  maddened  by  oppression, 
cruelty,  and  insult.  The  Praitors,  who  first  led  armies  against 
them,  were  totally  defeated;  and  in  B.C.  134  it  was  thought  neces- 
sary to  send  the  Consul  C.  Fulvius  Flaccus  to  subdue  the  insurrec- 
tion. But  neither  he,  nor  the  Consul  of  the  following  year,  suc- 
ceeded in  this  object;  and  it  was  not  till  B.C.  132  that  the  Consul 
P.  liupilius  brought  the  war  to  an  end  by  the  capture  of  Taurome- 
nium  and  Enna,  the  two  strong-holds  of  the  insurgents.  The  life 
of  Eunus  was  spared,  probably  with  the  intention  of  carrying  him 
to  Rome,  but  he  died  in  prison  at  Morgantia. 

About  the  same  time  died  Attains  Philometor,  the  last  king 
of  Pergamus,  leaving  no  children  (B.C.  133).  He  beqeuathcd  his 
kingdom  and  treasures  to  the  Roman  people ;  but  Aristonicus,  a 
natural  son  of  Eumenes,  the  father  of  Attains,  laid  claim  to  the 
crown.  He  even  defeated  the  Consul  P.  Licinius  Crassns,  who 
fell  in  the  engagement  (B.C.  131),  but  he  was  himself  defeated  and 
taken  prisoner  in  the  following  year.  The  kingdom  of  Pergamus 
was  formed  into  a  Roman  province  under  the  name  of  Asia  (B.C. 
120). 

The  foreign  dominions  of  Rome  now  comprised  the  ten  follow- 
ing provinces,  to  which  is  added  the  date  of  the  formation  of  each : 
1.  Sicily,  B.C.  241.  2.  Sardinia  and  Corsica,  B.C.  238.  3,  4.  The 
two  Spains,  Citerior  and  Ulterior,  B.C.  205.  5.  Gallia  Cisalpina, 
B.C.  191.  C.  Macedonia,  B.C.  146.  7.  Illyricum,  probably  form- 
ed at  the  same  time  as  Macedonia.  8.  Achaia,  that  is,  Southern 
Greece,  virtually  a  province  after  the  capture  of  Corinth,  B.C.  146, 
though  the  exact  date  of  its  formation  is  unknown.  9.  Africa,  con- 
sisting of  the  dominions  of  Carthage,  B.C.  146.  10.  Asia,  includ- 
ing the  kingdom  of  Pergamus,  B.C.  129.  To  these  an  eleventh  waa 
added  in  B.C.  118  by  the  conquest  of  the  southern  portion  of  Trans- 
alpine Gaul  between  the  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees.  In  contrast  with 
the  other  portions  of  Gaul,  it  was  frequently  called  simply  the 
"Provincia,"  a  name  which  has  been  retained  in  the  modern 
Provence. 


Stairs  of  the  modern  Capitol. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE    GRACCHI.       B.C.  133-121. 

THE  more  thoughtful  Bomans  had  foreseen  the  dangers  with 
which  Rome  was  menaced  by  the  impoverishment  of  her  free  pop- 
ulation, and  the  alarming  increase  in  the  number  of  slaves.  It  is 
said  that  Lselius,  the  friend  of  the  elder  Scipio  Africanus,  had  at 
the  close  of  the  Second  Punic  War  meditated  some  reforms  to  ar- 
rest the  growing  evil,  but  had  given  them  up  as  impracticable.  The 
Servile  War  in  Sicily  had  lately  revealed  the  extent  of  the  peril  to 
which  the  Republic  was  exposed.  It  must  have  been  felt  by  many 
that  the  evil  would  never  have  reached  its  present  height  if  the  Li- 
ijnian  Law  had  been  observed,  if  men  had  been  appointed  to  watch 
over  its  execution,  and  if  the  newly-acquired  public  lands  had  from 
time  to  time  been  distributed  among  the  people.  But  the  nobles, 
from  long  possession,  had  come  to  regard  the  public  land  as  their 
own  ;  many  had  acquired  their  portions  by  purchase,  inheritance, 


B.C.  133.  THE  GRACCHI.  149 

or  marriage  ;  and  every  one  shrank  from  interfering  with  interests 
supported  by  long  prescription  and  usage.  Still,  unless  something 
was  done,  matters  would  become  worse ;  the  poor  would  become 
poorer,  and  the  slaves  more  numerous,  and  the  state  would  de- 
scend more  rapidly  into  the  yawning  abyss  beneath  it.  Under 
these  circumstances,  two  young  men,  belonging  to  one  of  the  no- 
blest families  in  Home,  came  forward  to  save  the  Republic,  but 
perished  in  the  attempt.  Their  violent  death  may  be  regarded  as 
•the  beginning  of  the  Civil  Wars,  which  ended  in  the  destruction  of 
freedom,  and  the  establishment  of  the  despotism  of  the  Empire. 

Tiberius  and  Caius  Gracchus  were  the  sons  of  Tib.  Scmpronius 
Gracchus,  whose  prudent  measures  gave  tranquillity  to  Spain  for 
so  many  years.*  They  lost  their  father  at  an  early  age,  but  they 
were  educated  with  the  utmost  care  by  their  mother,  Cornelia,  the 
daughter  of  Scipio  Africanus  the  elder,  who  had  inherited  from  her 
father  a  love  of  literature,  and  united  in  her  person  the  severe  vir- 
tue of  the  ancient  Roman  matron  with  the  superior  knowledge  and 
refinement  which  then  prevailed  in  the  higher  classes  at  Rome. 
She  engaged  for  her  sons  the  most  eminent  Greek  teachers  ;  and  it 
was  mainly  owing  to  the  pains  she  took  with  their  education  that 
they  surpassed  all  the  Roman  youths  of  their  age.  Tiberius  was 
nine  years  older  than  his  brother  Caius.  The  latter  had  more  abil- 
ity, but  Tiberius  was  the  more  amiable,  and  won  all  hearts  by  the 
simplicity  of  his  demeanor  and  his  graceful  and  persuasive  elo- 
quence. So  highly  was  Tiberius  esteemed,  that  as  soon  as  he  reach- 
ed the  age  of  manhood  he  was  elected  Augur,  and  at  the  banquet 
given  at  his  installation  Appius  Claudius,  then  Chief  of  the  Senate, 
offered  him  his  daughter  in  marriage.  When  Appius  returned 
home  and  informed  his  wife  that  he  had  just  betrothed  their  daugh- 
ter, she  exclaimed,  "Why  in  such  a  hurry,  unless  you  have  got  Tib. 
Gracchus  for  her  husband?"  Sempronia,  the  only  sister  of  Tibe- 
rius, was  married  to  the  younger  Scipio  Africanus.  Tiberius  was 
thus,  by  birth  and  marriage,  connected  with  the  noblest  families  in 
the  Republic— the  grandson  of  the  conqueror  of  Hannibal— the  son- 
in-law  of  the  Chief  of  the  Senate— and  the  brother-in-law  of  the  de= 
stroyer  of  Carthage. 

/  Tiberius  served  under  his  brother-in-law  in  Africa,  and  was  the 
'first  who  scaled  the  walls  of  Carthage.  Pie  was  Quaxtor  in  B.C. 
137,  and  accompanied  the  Consul  C.  Hostilius  to  Spain,  where  he 
saved  the  army  by  obtaining  a  treaty  with  the  Numantines,  which 
the  Senate  refused  to  ratify,  t  In  passing  through  Etruria.  on  his 
way  to  Spain,  Tiberius  had  observed  with  grief  and  indignation  the 
deserted  state  of  that  fertile  country.  Thousands  of  foreign  slaves 
*  See  p.  115.  t  See  p.  146. 


160  HISTOKY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  XXI. 

were  tending  the  flocks  and  cultivating  the  soil  of  the  wealthy  land- 
owners, while  Roman  citizens,  thus  thrown  out  of  employment,  could 
scarcely  procure  their  daily  bread,  and  hnd  not  a  clod  of  earth  to 
call  their  own.  He  now  conceived  the  design  of  applying  a  remedy 
to  this  state  of  things,  and  with  this  view  became  a  candidate  for  the 
Tribunate,  and  was  elected  for  the  year  B.C.  133. 

Tiberius,  however,  did  not  act  with  precipitation.  The  measure 
which  he  brought  forward  had  previously  received  the  approbation 
of  some  of  the  wisest  and  noblest  men  in  the  state ;  of  his  own  fa- 
ther-in-law Appius  Claudius ;  of  P.  Mucius  Scaevola,  the  great  jurist, 
who  was  then  Consul ;  and  of  Crassus,  the  Pontifex  Maximus.  It 
was  proposed  to  re-enact  the  Licinian  Law  of  B.C.  364 — which  had, 
in  fact,  never  been  repealed — but  with  some  modifications  and  ad- 
ditions. As  in  the  Licinian  Law,  no  one  was  to  be  allowed  to  pos- 
sess more  than  500  jugera  of  public  land ;  but,  to  relax  the  strin- 
gency of  this  rule,  every  possessor  might  hold  in  addition  250  jugera 
for  each  of  his  sons.  All  the  rest  of  the  public  land  was  to  be  taken 
away  from  them  and  distributed  among  the  poor  citizens,  who  were 
not  to  be  permitted  to  alienate  these  lots,  in  order  that  they  might 
not  be  again  absorbed  into  the  estate  of  the  wealthy.  An  indem- 
nity was  to  be  given  from  the  public  treasury  for  all  buildings  erect- 
ed upon  lands  thus  taken  away.  Three  commissioners  (Triumviri) 
were  to  be  elected  by  the  tribes  in  order  to  carry  this  law  into  exe- 
cution. 

The  Law  affected  only  Public  Lands,  but  it  was  no  less  a  revolu- 
tionary measure.  It  is  true  that  no  prescription  can,  as  a  general 
rule,  be  pleaded  against  the  rights  of  the  state,  but  the  possessors 
of  the  public  lands  had  enjoyed  them  without  question  for  so  long 
a  period  that  they  had  come  to  regard  these  lands  as  their  private 
property.  In  many  cases,  as  we  have  already  said,  they  had  been 
acquired  by  bond  Jide  purchase,  and  the  claim  of  the  state,  now 
advocated  by  Gracchus,  was  regarded  as  downright  robbery.  At- 
tacks upon  property  have  produced  the  greatest  convulsions  in  all 
states,  and  the  Roman  landowners  wer?  ready  to  have  recourse  to 
any  measures  to  defeat  the  law.  But  the  thousands  who  would  be 
benefited  by  it  were  determined  to  support  Tiberius  at  any  risk1. 
He  told  them  that  "the  wild  beasts  of  Italy  had  their  dens,  and 
holes,  and  hiding-places,  while  the  men  who  fought  and  bled  in  de-"* 
fense  of  Italy  wandered  about  with  their  wives  and  children  with- 
out a  spot  of  ground  to  rest  upon."  It  was  evident  that  the  law 
would  be  carried,  and  the  landowners  therefore  resorted  to  the  only 
means  left  to  them.  They  persuaded  M.  Octavius,  one  of  the  Trib- 
unes, to  put  his  veto  upon  the  measure  of  his  colleague.  This  was 
a  fatal  and  unexpected  obstacle.  In  vain  did  Tiberius  imploro 


B.C.  133.     TRIBUNATE  OF  TIBERIUS  GRACCHUS.      J51 

Octavius  to  withdraw  his  veto.  The  contest  between  the  Tribunes 
continued  for  many  days.  Tiberius  retaliated  by  forbidding  the 
magistrates  to  exercise  any  of  their  functions,  and  by  suspending, 
in  fact,  the  entire  administration  of  the  government.  But  Octa- 
vius remained  firm,  and  Tiberius  therefore  determined  to  depose 
him  from  his  office.  He  summoned  an  Assembly  of  the  People 
and  put  the  question  to  the  vote.  Seventeen  out  of  the  thirty-five 
tribes  had  already  voted  for  the  deposition  of  Octavius,  and  the 
addition  of  one  tribe  would  reduce  him  to  a  private  condition, 
whon  Tiberius  stopped  the  voting,  anxious,  at  the  last  moment,  to 
prevent  the  necessity  of  so  desperate  a  measure.  Octavius,  how- 
ever,  would  not  yield.  "Complete  what  you  have  begun,"  w.« 
his  only  answer  to  the  entreaties  of  his  colleague.  The  eight- 
eenth tribe  voted,  and  Tiberius  ordered  him  to  be  dragged  from 
the  rostra.  Octavius  had  only  exercised  his  undoubted  rights,  and 
bis  deposition  was  clearly  a  violation  of  the  Roman  constitution. 
This  gave  the  enemies  of  Gracchus  the  handle  which  they  needed. 
They  could  now  justly  charge  him  not  only  with  revolutionary 
measures,  but  with  employing  revolutionary  means  to  carry  them 
into  effect. 

The  Agrarian  Law  was  passed  without  farther  opposition,  and 
the  three  commissioners  elected  to  put  it  in  force  were  Tiberius 
himself,  his  father-in-law  Appius  Claudius,  and  his  brother  Cains, 
then  a  youth  of  twenty,  serving  under  P.  Scipio  at  Numantia 
About  the  same  time  news  arrived  of  the  death  of  Attains  Philo. 
metor,  king  of  Pergamus,  who  had  bequeathed  his  kingdom  and 
treasures  to  the  Republic.  Tiberius  therefore  proposed  that  these 
treasures  should  be  distributed  among  the  people  who  had  received 
assignments  of  lands,  to  enable  them  to  stock  their  farms  and  to 
assist  them  in  their  cultivation.  Pie  even  went  so  far  as  to  threat- 
en to  deprive  the  Senate  of  the  regulation  of  the  new  province, 
arid  to  bring  the  subject  before  the  Assembly  of  the  People.  The 
exasperation  of  the  Nobility  was  intense.  They  tried  every 
means  to  blacken  the  character  of  the  Tribune,  and  even  spread  a 
report  that  he  had  received  a  diadem  and  a  purple  robe  from  the 
envoy  from  Pergamus,  and  that  he  meditated  making  himself  King 
of  Rome.  It  was  evident  that  his  life  would  be  no  longer  safe 
when  he  ceased  to  be  protected  by  the  sanctity  of  the  Tribune's 
office.  Accordingly,  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  Tribunate  for 
the  following  year.  The  Tribunes  did  not  enter  upon  their  office 
till  December,  but  the  election  took  place  in  June,  at  which  time 
the  country  people,  on  whom  he  chiefly  relied,  were  engaged  in 
getting  in  the  harvest.  Still,  two  tribes  had  already  voted  in  his 
fovor,  when  the  nobility  interrupted  the  election  by  maintaining 


15J  HISTOKY  OF  ROME.  CIIAP.  XXL 

that  it  was  illegal,  since  no  man  could  be  chosen  Tribune  for  two 
consecutive  years.  After  a  violent  debate  the  Assembly  was  ad- 
journed till  the  following  day.  Tiberius  now  became  alarmed  lest 
his  enemies  should  get  the  upper  hand,  and  he  went  round  the 
forum  with  his  child,  appealing  to  the  sympathy  of  the  people  and 
imploring  their  aid.  They  readily  responded  to  his  appeal,  es- 
corted him  home,  and  a  large  crowd  kept  watch  around  his  house 
all  night. 

Next  day  the  adjourned  Assembly  met  on  the  Capitol  in  the 
open  space  in  front  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter.  The  Senate  also 
assembled  in  the  Temple  of  Faith  close  by.  Scipio  Nasica,  the 
leader  of  the  more  violent  party  in  the  Senate,  called  upon  the 
Consul  Mucius  Scsevola  to  stop  the  re-election,  but  the  Consul 
declined  to  interfere.  Fulvius  Flaccus,  a  Senator,  and  a  friend  of 
Tiberius,  hastened  to  inform  him  of  the  speech  of  Nasica,  and  told 
him  that  his  death  was  resolved  upon.  Thereupon  the  friends  of 
Tiberius  prepared  to  resist  force  by  force ;  and  as  those  at  a  dis- 
tance could  not  hear  him,  on  account  of  the  tumult  and  confusion, 
the  Tribune  pointed  with  his  hand  to  his  head,  to  intimate  that  his 
life  was  in  danger.  His  enemies  exclaimed  that  he  was  asking 
for  the  crown.  The  news  reached  the  Senate.  Nasica  appealed 
to  the  Consul  to  save  the  Republic,  but  as  Scajvola  still  refused  to 
have  recourse  to  violence,  Nasica  sprung  up  and  exclaimed,  "The 
Consul  is  betraying  the  Republic !  let  those  who  wish  to  save  the 
state  follow  me."  He  then  rushed  out  of  the  Senate-house,  fol- 
lowed by  many  of  the  Senators.  The  people  made  way  for  them ; 
and  they,  breaking  up  the  benches,  armed  themselves  with  sticks, 
and  rushed  upon  Tiberius  and  his  friends.  The  tribune  fled  to 
the  Temple  of  Jupiter,  but  the  door  had  been  barred  by  the  priests, 
and  in  his  flight  he  fell  over  a  prostrate  body.  As  he  was  rising 
he  received  the  first  blow  from  one  of  his  colleagues,  and  was 
quickly  dispatched.  Upward  of  300  of  his  partisans  were  slain  on 
the  same  day.  Their  bodies  were  thrown  into  the  Tiber.  This 
was  the  first  blood  shed  at  Rome  in  civil  strife  since  the  expulsion 
of  the  kings. 

Notwithstanding  their  victory,  the  Nobles  did  not  venture  to  pro- 
pose the  repeal  of  the  Agrarian  Law,  and  a  new  Commissioner  was 
chosen  in  the  place  of  Tiberius.  The  popular  indignation  was 
ao  strongly  excited  against  Scipio  Nasica  that  his  friends  advised 
him  to  withdraw  from  Italy,  though  he  was  Pontifex  Maximus, 
and  therefore  ought  not  to  have  quitted  the  country.  He  died 
shortly  afterward  at  Pergamus. 

All  eyes  were  now  turned  to  Scipio  Africanus,  who  returned  to 
Rome  in  B.C.  132.  When  Scipio  received  at  Numantia  the  news 


35.0. 133.      MURDER  OF  SCIPIO  AFRICAN  US.  153 

of  the  death  of  Tiberius,  he  is  reported  to  have  exclaimed  in  the 
verse  of  Homer* — 

"  So  perish  all  who  do  the  like  again." 

The  people  may  have  thought  that  the  brother-in-law  of  Tiberius 
would  show  some  sympathy  with  his  reforms  and  some  sorrow  for 
his  fate.  They  were,  however,  soon  undeceived.  Being  asked  in 
.the  Assembly  of  the  Tribes  by  C.  Papirius  Carbo,  the  Tribune, 
who  was  now  the  leader  of  the  popular  party,  what  he  thought  of 
the  death  of  Tiberius,  he  boldly  replied  that  "he  was  justly  slain." 
The  people,  who  had  probably  expected  a  different  answer,  loudly 
expressed  their  disapprobation ;  whereupon  Scipio,  turning  to  the 
mob,  bade  them  be  silent,  since  Italy  was  only  their  step-mother."t 
The  people  did  not  forget  this  insult  $  but  such  was  his  influence 
and  authority  that  the  Nobility  were  able  to  defeat  the  bill  of 
Carbo  by  which  the  Tribunes  might  be  re-elected  as  often  as  the 
people  pleased.  Scipio  was  now  regarded  as  the  acknowledged 
leader  of  the  Nobility,  and  the  latter  resolved  to  avail  themselves 
of  his  powerful  aid  to  prevent  the  Agrarian  Law  of  Tiberius  from 
being  carried  into  effect.  The  Italians  were  alarmed  at  the  pros*- 
pect  of  losing  some  of  their  lands,  and  Scipio  skillfully  availed  him- 
self of  the  circumstance  to  propose  in  the  Senate  (B.C.  129)  that 
all  disputes  respecting  the  lands  of  the  Italians  should  be  taken 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Commissioners  and  transferred  to  the  Con- 
suls. This  would  have  been  equivalent  to  an  abrogation  of  the 
law,  and  accordingly  the  three  Commissioners  offered  the  most  ve- 
hement opposition  to  his  proposal.  In  the  forum  he  was  attacked 
by  Carbo,  with  the  bitterest  invectives,  as  the  enemy  of  the  people ; 
and  upon  his  again  expressing  his  approval  of  the  death  of  Tiberius, 
the  people  shouted  out,  "Down  with  the  tyrant!"  In  the  evening 
he  went  home  accompanied  by  the  Senate  and  a  great  number  of 
the  Italians.  He  retired  to  his  sleeping-room  with  the  intention 
of  composing  a  speech  for  the  following  day.  Next  morning  Rome 
was  thrown  into  consternation  by  the  news  that  Scipio  was  found 
dead  in  his  room.  The  most  contradictory  rumors  were  circu- 
lated respecting  his  death,  but  it  was  the  general  opinion  that  he 
was  murdered.  Suspicion  fell  upon  various  persons,  but  Cavbo  was 
most  generally  believed  to  have  been  the  murderer.  There  was  no 
inquiry  into  the  cause  of  his  death  (u.c.  129). 

Scipio  was  only  56  at  the  time  of  his  death.     To  the  Republic 

*  Od.,  i.  4T. 

t  It  must  be  recollected  that  the  mob  at  Rome  consisted  chiefly  of  the  four  city 
tribes,  and  that  slaves  when  manumitted  could  be  enrolled  in  these  four  tribea 
alone. 


154  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXI. 

his  loss  was  irreparable.  By  his  last  act  lie  had  come  forward  as 
the  patron  of  the  Italians.  Had  he  lived  he  might  have  incorpo- 
rated them  in  the  Roman  state,  and  by  forming  a  united  Italy  have 
saved  Rome  from  many  of  the  horrors  and  disasters  which  she  aft- 
erward suffered. 

The  leaders  of  the  popular  party  perceived  the  mistake  they  had 
made  in  alienating  the  Italians  from  their  cause,  and  they  now  se- 
cured their  adhesion  by  offering  them  the  Roman  citizenship  if 
they  would  support  the  Agrarian  Law.  As  Roman  citizens  they 
would,  of  course,  be  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the  law,  while  they 
would,  at  the  same  time,  obtain  what  they  had  so  long  desired — 
an  equal  share  in  political  power.  But  the  existing  citizens,  who 
saw  that  their  own  importance  would  be  diminished  by  an  increase 
in  their  numbers,  viewed  such  a  proposal  with  the  utmost  repug- 
nance. So  strong  was  their  feeling  that,  when  great,  numbers  of 
the  Italians  had  flocked  to  Rome  in  B.C.  126,  the  Tribune  M.  Ju- 
nius  Pcnnus  carried  a  law  that  all  aliens  should  quit  the  city. 
Cains  Gracchus  spoke  against  this  law,  and  his  friends  still  remain- 
ed faithful  to  the  cause  of  the  Italians.  In  the  following  year  (B.C. 
125),  M.  Fulvius  Flaccus,  who  was  then  Consul,  brought  forward  a 
Reform  Bill,  granting  the  Roman  citizenship  to  all  the  Italian  al- 
lies. But  it  was  evident  that  the  Tribes  would  reject  this  law,  and 
the  Senate  got  rid  of  the  proposer  by  sending  him  into  Transal- 
pine Gaul,  where  the  Massilians  had  implored  the  assistance  of 
Rome  against  the  Salluvians.  In  the  previous  year  Cains  Grac- 
chus had  gone  to  Sardinia  as  Qua?stor,  so  that  the  Senate  had  now 
removed  from  Rome  two  of  their  most  troublesome  opponents,  and 
the  Italians  had  lost  their  two  most  powerful  patrons.  Bitter  was 
the  disappointment  of  the  Italians.  Fregellse,  a  town  of  Latiiim, 
and  one  of  the  eighteen  Latin  colonies  which  had  remained  faith- 
ful to  Rome  during  the  Second  Punic  War,  took  up  arms,  but  its 
example  was  not  followed,  and  it  had  to  bear  alone  the  brunt  of 
the  unequal  contest.  It  was  quickly  reduced  by  the  Prator  L. 
Opimius ;  the  city  was  utterly  destroyed ;  and  the  insm-rection, 
which  a  slight  success  would  have  made  universal,  was  thus  nipped 
in  its  bud  (B.C.  125). 

Caius  Gracchus  had  taken  very  little  part  in  public  affairs  since 
his  brother's  death.  He  had  spoken  only  twice  in  public  .  once  in 
favor  of  the  law  of  Carbo  for  the  re-election  of  Tribunes,  and  a 
second  time  in  opposition  to  the  Alien  Act  of  Junius  Pennus,  as 
already  mentioned.  But  the  eyes  of  the  people  were  naturally 
turned  toward  him.  His  abilities  were  known,  and  the  Senate 
dreaded  his  return  to  Rome.  He  had  been  already  two  years  in 
Sardinia,  and  they  now  attempted  to  retain  him  there  another  year 


B.C.  123.  CAIUS  GIIACCHUS  ELECTED  TRIBUNE.       157 

T>y  sending  fresh  troops  to  the  province,  and  by  commanding  the 
Proconsul  to  remain  in  the  island.  But  Cains  suddenly  appeared 
at  Koine,  to  the  surprise  of  all  parties  (n.c.  124).  His  enemies 
brought  him  before  the  Censors  to  account  for  his  conduct,  but  he 
defended  himself  so  ably  that  not  only  was  no  stigma  put  upon 
him,  but  he  was  considered  to  have  been  very  badly  used.  He 
showed  that  he  had  served  in  the  army  twelve  years,  though  re, 
quired  to  serve  only  ten  ;  that  he  had  acted  as  Quaestor  two  years, 
though  the  law  demanded  only  one  year's  service ;  and  lie  added 
that  he  was  the  only  soldier  who  took  out  with  him  a  full  pursa 
and  brought  it  back  empty. 

Exasperated  by  the  persecution  of  the  Senate,  Caius  determined 
to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Tribuneship,  and  to  reform  the  Ro- 
man constitution.  He  was  elected  for  the  year  B.C.  123,  and  lost 
no  time  in  bringing  forward  a  number  of  important  measures  which 
are  known  as  the  Sempronian  Laws.  His  legislation  was  direct- 
ed to  two  objects:  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  poor, 
and  the  weakening  of  the  power  of  the  Senate.  Cains  was  the 
greatest  orator  of  all  his  contemporaries;  the  contagion  of  his  elo- 
quence was  irresistible,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  enabled 
him  to  carry  every  thing  before  him. 

I.  His  principal  laws  for  improving  the  condition  of  the  people 
were : 

1.  The  extension  of  the  Agrarian  Law  of  his  brother  by  planting 
new  colonies  in  Italy  and  the  provinces. 

2.  A  state  provision  for  the  poor,  enacting  that  corn  should  be 
sold  to  every  citizen  at  a  price  much  below  its  market  value.    This 
was  the  first  of  the  Leges  Frumentarur,  which  were  attended  with 
the  most  injurious  effects.    They  emptied  the  treasury,  at  the  same 
time  that  they  taught  the  poor  to  become  state  paupers,  instead  of 
depending  upon  their  own  exertions  for  a  living. 

3.  Another  law  enacted  that  the  soldiers  should  be  equipped  at 
the  expense  of  the  Republic,  without  the  cost  being  deducted  from 
their  pay,  as  had  hitherto  been  the  case. 

II.  The  most  important  laws  designed  to  diminish  the  power  of 
the  Senate  were : 

1.  The  law  by  which  the  Judices  were  to  be  taken  only  from  the 
Equites,  and  not  from  the  Senators,  as  had  been  the  custom  hith- 
erto. This  was  a  very  important  enactment,  and  needs  a  little  ex- 
planation. All  offenses  against  the  state  were  originally  tried  in 
the  Popular  Assembly ;  but  when  special  enactments  were  passed 
for  the  trial  of  particular  offenses,  the  practice  was  introduced  of 
forming  a  body  of  Judices  for  the  trial  of  these  offenses.  This  was 
first  done  upon  the  passing  of  the  Calpurnian  Law  (n.c.  14!))  for 


IBS  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAJ-.  XXI. 

the  punishment  of  provincial  magistrates  for  extortion  in  their  gov- 
ernment (Z>e  Rc/>ettndis~).  Such  offenses  had  to  be  tried  Leforo 
the  1'rajtor  and  n  jury  of  Senators;  but  as  these  very  Sen  a  tore  ei- 
ther had  been  or  hoped  to  be  provincial  magistrates,  they  were  not 
disposed  to  visit  with  severity  offenses  of  which  they  themselves  ei- 
ther had  been  or  were  likely  to  be  guilty.  By  depriving  the  Sen- 
ators of  this  judicial  power,  and  by  transferring  it  to  the  Equites, 
Gracchus  also  made  the  latter  a  political  order  in  the  state  apart 
from  their  military  character.  The  name  of  Equites  was  now  ap- 
plied to  all  persons  who  were  qualified  by  their  fortune  to  act  as 
Judices,  whether  they  served  in  the  army  or  not.  From  this  timo 
is  dated  the  creation  of  an  Ordo  Equeslris,  whose  interests  were  fre- 
quently opposed  to  those  of  the  Senate,  and  who  therefore  served 
as  a  check  upon  the  latter. 

2.  Another  law  was  directed  against  the  arbitrary  proceedings 
of  the  Senate  in  the  distribution  of  the  provinces.  Hitherto  the 
Senate  had  assigned  the  provinces  to  the  Consuls  after  their  elec- 
tion, and  thus  had  had  it  in  their  power  to  grant  wealthy  govern- 
ments to  their  partisans,  or  unprofitable  ones  to  those  opposed  to 
them.  It  was  now  enacted  that,  before  the  election  of  the  Consul?, 
the  Senate  should  determine  the  two  provinces  which  the  Consuls 
should  have  ;  and  that  they  should,  immediately  after  election,  set- 
tle between  themselves,  by  lot  or  otherwise,  which  province  each 
should  take. 

These  laws  raised  the  popularity  of  Caius  still  higher,  and  he  be- 
came for  a  time  the  absolute  ruler  of  Rome.  He  was  re-elected 
Tribune  for  the  following  year  (B.C.  122),  though  he  did  not  offer 
himself  as  a  candidate.  M.  Fulvius  Flaccus,  who  had  been  Consul 
in  B.C.  125,  was  also  chosen  as  one  of  his  colleagues.  Flaccus,  it 
will  be  recollected,  had  proposed  in  his  consulship  to  give  the  Ro- 
man franchise  to  the  Italian  allies,  and  it  was  now  determined  to 
bring  forward  a  similar  measure.  Caius  therefore  brought  in  a 
bill  conferring  the  citizenship  upon  all  the  Latin  colonies,  and 
making  the  Italian  allies  occupy  the  position  which  the  Latins  had 
previously  held.  This  wise  measure  was  equally  disliked  in  the 
forum  and  the  Senate.  Neither  the  influence  nor  the  eloquence 
of  Gracchus  could  induce  the  people  to  view  with  satisfaction  tho 
admission  of  the  Italian  allies  to  equal  rights  and  privileges  with 
themselves.  The  Senate,  perceiving  that  the  popularity  of  Grac- 
chus had  been  somewhat  shaken  by  this  measure,  employed  his  col- 
league, M.  Livius  Drusus — who  was  noble,  well-educated,  wealth}', 
and  eloquent — to  undermine  his  influence  with  the  people.  With 
the  sanction  of  the  Senate,  Drnsus  now  endeavored  to  outbid  Grac- 
chus, lie  played  the  part  of  a  demagogue  in  order  to  supplant 


B.C.  121.  CAIUS  GRACCHUS  AND  M.  L.  UltUFUS.         159 

the  tvue  friend  of  the  people.  He  gave  to  the  Senate  the  credit  of 
every  popular  law  which  he  proposed,  and  gradually  impressed  the 
people  witli  the  belief  that  the  Nobles  were  their  best  friends. 
Gracchus  proposed  to  found  two  colonies  nt  Tarentum  and  Capua, 
and  named  among  the  founders  some  of  the  most  respcclable  citi- 
zens. Drusus  introduced  a  law  far  establishing  no  fewer  than 
twelve  colonies,  and  for  settling  3000  poor  citizens  in  each.  Grac- 
chus, in  the  distribution  of  the  public  land,  reserved  a  rent  payable 
fc  the  public  treasury.  Drusus  abolished  even  this  payment.  He 
also  gained  the  confidence  of  the  people  by  asking  no  favor  for 
himself;  he  took  no  part  in  the  foundation  of  colonies,  and  left  to 
others  the  management  of  business  in  which  any  money  had  to  be 
expended.  Gracchus,  on  the  other  hand,  superintended  every  thing 
in  person  ;  and  the  people,  always  jealous  in  pecuniary  matters, 
began  to  suspect  his  motives.  During  his  absence  in  Africa,  whith- 
er he  had  gone  as  one  of  the  three  Commissioners  for  founding  a 
colony  upon  the  ruins  of  Carthage,  Drusus  was  able  to  weaken  his 
popularity  still  farther.  On  his  return  lie  endeavored  in  vain  to 
reorganize  his  party  and  recover  his  power.  Both  he  and  Flaccus 
failed  in  being  re-elected  Tribunes ;  while  L.  Opimius  and  Q.  Fa- 
bius,  two  personal  enemies  of  Gracchus,  were  raised  to  the  Consul- 
ship. The  two  new  Consuls  had  no  sooner  entered  upon  office 
(B.C.  121)  than  they  resolved  to  drive  matters  to  extremities.  One 
of  the  first  measures  of  Opimius  was  a  proposal  to  repeal  the  law 
for  colonizing  Carthage,  because  it  had  been  established  upon  the 
site  which  Scipio  had  cursed.  It  was  evident  that  a  pretext  was 
only  sought  for  taking  the  life  of  Gracchus,  and  Flaccus  urged  him 
to  repel  violence  by  force.  Caius  shrunk  from  this  step,  but  an  ac- 
cident gave  his  enemies  the  pretext  which  they  longed  for.  The 
tribes  had  assembled  at  the  Capitol  to  decide  upon  the  colony  at 
Carthage,  when  a  servant  of  the  Consul  Opimius,  pushing  against 
Gracchus,  insolently  cried  out,  "Make  way  for  honest  men,  you 
rascals."  Gracchus  turned  round  to  him  with  an  .nngry  look,  and 
the  man  was  immediately  stabbed  by  an  unknown  hand.  The  as- 
sembly immediately  broke  up,  and  Gracchus  returned  home,  fore- 
seeing the  advantage  which  this  unfortunate  occurrence  would  give 
to  his  enemies.  The  Senate  declared  Gracchus  and  Flaccus  public 
enemies,  and  invested  the  Consuls  with  dictatorial  powers.  Dur- 
ing the  night  Opimius  took  possession  of  the  Temple  of  Castor  and 
Pollux,  which  overlooked  the  forum  ;  summoned  a  meeting  of  the 
Senate  for  the  following  morning,  and  ordered  all  the  partisans  of 
the  Senate  to  be  present,  each  with  two  armed  slaves.  Flaccus 
seized  the  Temple  of  Diana  on  the  Aventine,  and  distributed  arms 
to  his  followers:  here  he  was  joined  by  Gracchus.  Civil  war  was 


160 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


CHAP.  XXI. 


thus  declared.  After  some  fruitless  attempts  at  negotiation,  the 
Consul  proceeded  to  attack  the  Aventine.  Little  or  no  resistance 
\vns  made,  and  Flaccus  and  Gracchus  took  to  flight,  and  crossed  the 
Tiber  by  the  Sublicinn  bridge.  Gracchus  escaped  to  the  Grove  of 
the  Furies,  accompanied  only  by  a  single  slave.  When  the  pur- 
suers reached  the  spot  they  found  both  of  them  dead.  The  slave 
had  first  killed  his  master  and  then  himself.  The  head  of  Grac- 
chus was  cut  off,  and  carried  to  Opimius,  who  gave  to  the  person 
Vrho  brought  it  its  weight  in  gold.  Flaccus  was  also  put  to  death, 
together  with  numbers  of  his  party.  Their  corpses  were  thrown 
into  the  Tiber,  their  houses  demolished,  and  their  property  confis- 
cated. Even  their  widows  were  forbidden  to  wear  mourning.  Aft- 
er the  bloody  work  had  been  finished,  the  Consul,  by  order  of  tho 
Senate,  dedicated  a  temple  to  Concord ! 

At  a  later  time  statues  of  the  two  Gracchi  were  set  up  in  public 
places,  and  the  spots  on  which  they  fell  were  declared  holy  ground ; 
but  for  the  present  no  one  dared  to  show  any  sympathy  for  their 
fate.  Their  mother  Cornelia  retired  to  Misenum,  where  she  was 
visited  by  the  most  distinguished  men.  She  loved  to  recount  to 
her  guests  the  story  of  her  noble  sons,  and  narrated  their  death 
without  showing  sorrow  or  shedding  tears,  as  if  she  had  been  speak- 
ing of  heroes  of  the  olden  time. 


^mmj,wtm^,  .  „  mnrmvfi.  •.  u  •  u  . 

SEKATVS  POi-YLVSQE  BDMANVS 

INCENDIO  CO1-ISVMPTVM   -  RE  .VTITVEKH 

I 

^ 

'          ' 

i      —  -I 

V-;- 

.  -^-. 

5        c 

I 

5         c 

Si 

3           6 

; 

m 

•s: 

»        < 

1 

= 

Temple  of  Saturn  at  Rome. 


A  Roman  Trophy. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

JUGURTHA   AND   HIS   TIMES.       B.C.  118-104. 

THE  murder  of  C.  Gracchus  and  his  adherents  left  the  Nobility 
undisputed  masters  of  the  state,  till  their  scandalous  conduct  in 
the  Jugurthan  War  provoked  a  reaction  against  them,  and  raised 
to  power  a  more  terrible  opponent  than  the  Gracchi  had  ever  been. 
This  man,  who  took  such  signal  vengeance  upon  the  Nobility,  was 
the  lowborn  MARIUS.  He  was  a  native  of  Arpinum,  and  was 
said  to  have  worked  for  wages  as  a  common  peasant  before  he  en- 
tered the  ranks  of  the  army.  He  first  served  in  Spain,  and  was 
present  at  the  siege  of  Numantia  in  B.C.  134.  Here  he  distin- 
guished himself  so  much  that  he  attracted  the  notice  of  Scipio 
Africanus,  and  received  from  him  many  marks  of  honor.  Scipio 
indeed  admitted  him  to  his  table ;  and  on  a  certain  occasion,  when 
one  of  the  guests  asked  Scipio  where  the  Roman  peoplo  would  find 


162  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  XXH. 

Biu-h  another  general  after  his  death,  he  is  said  to  have  laid  his 
hand  on  the  shoulder  of  Marius,  and  said,  "Perhaps  here."  The 
name  of  Marius  does  not  occur  again  for  many  years,  but  lie  doubt, 
less  continued  to  serve  in  the  army,  and  became  so  distinguished 
that  he  was  at  length  raised  to  the  Tribunate  of  the  Plcbs  in  B.C. 
119,  though  not  till  he  had  attained  the  mature  age  of  38.  Only 
two  years  had  elapsed  since  the  death  of  C.  Gracchus ;  and  the 
Nobles,  flushed  with  victory,  resolved  to  put  down  with  a  high  hand 
the  least  invasion  of  their  privileges  and  power.  But  Marius  had 
the  boldness  to  propose  a  law  for  the  purpose  of  giving  greater  free- 
dom at  elections;  and  when  the  Senate  attempted  to  overawe 
him,  he  ordered  one  of  his  officers  to  carry  the  Consul  Metellus  to 
prison.  Marius  now  became  a  marked  man.  He  lost  his  election 
to  the  ^Edileship,  and  with  difficulty  obtained  the  Pratorship  (B.C. 
115);  but  he  added  to  his  influence  by  his  marriage  with  Julia,  the 
sister  of  C.  Julius  Cassar,  the  father  of  the  future  ruler  of  Rome. 
His  military  abilities  recommended  him  to  the  Consul  Metellus 
(B.C.  100),  who  was  anxious  to  restore  discipline  in  the  army  and 
to  retrieve  the  glory  of  the  Roman  name,  which  had  been  tarnish- 
ed by  the  incapacity  and  corruption  of  the  previous  generals  in  the 
Jugurthan  "War,  which  now  requires  our  attention. 

Masinissa,  the  ruler  of  Numidia,  and  so  long  the  faithful  ally  of 
the  Romans,  had  died  in  B.C.  149,  at  the  advanced  age  of  90,  leav- 
ing three  sons,  Micipsa,  Mastanabal,  and  Gulussa,  among  whom 
his  kingdom  was  divided  by  Scipio  Africanus,  according  to  the  dy- 
ing directions  of  the  old  king.  Mastanabal  and  Gulussa  dying  in 
their  brother's  lifetime,  Micipsa  became  sole  king.  Jugurtha  was 
a  bastard  son  of  Mastanabal ;  but  Micipsa  brought  him  up  with 
his  own  sons,  Hiempsal  and  Adherbal.  Jugurtha  distinguished 
himself  so  much  that  he  began  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  Micipsa. 
In  order  to  remove  him  to  a  distance,  and  not  without  a  hope  that 
he  might  perish  in  the  war,  Micipsa  sent  him,  in  B.C.  134,  with  an 
auxiliary  force,  to  assist  Scipio  against  Numantia;  but  this  only 
proved  to  the  young  man  a  fresh  occasion  of  distinction.  By  his 
real,  courage,  and  ability  he  gained  the  favor  not  only  of  his  com- 
mander, but  of  all  the  leading  nobles  in  the  Roman  camp,  by  many 
of  whom  he  was  secretly  stimulated  to  nourish  ambitious  schemes 
for  acquiring  the  sole  sovereignty  of  Numidia ;  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  contrary  advice  of  Scipio,  the  counsels  seem  to  have  sunk 
deep  into  the  mind  of  Jugurtha.  On  his  return  he  was  received 
with  every  demonstration  of  honor  by  Micipsa ;  nor  did  he  allow 
his  ambitious  projects  to  break  forth  during  the  lifetime  of  the  old 
man.  Micipsa,  on  his  death-bed,  though  but  too  clearly  foreseeing 
what  would  happen,  commended  the  two  young  princes  to  the  care 


B.C.  118-104.    JUGURTIIA  AND  HIS  TIMES.  1G3 

of  Jugurtha ;  but  at  the  very  first  interview  which  took  place  be« 
tween  them  after  his  decease  (B.C.  118)  their  dissensions  broke  out 
with  the  utmost  fierceness.  Shortly  afterward  Jugurtha  found  an 
opportunity  to  surprise  and  assassinate  Hiempsal ;  whereupon  Ad- 
herbal  and  his  partisans  rushed  to  arms,  but  were  defeated  in  bat- 
tle by  Jugurtha.  Adherbal  himself  fled  for  refuge  to  the  Roman 
province,  from  whence  he  hastened  to  Rome  to  lay  his  cause  be- 
fore the  Senate.  Jugurtha  had  now  the  opportunity,  for  the  first 
time,  of  putting  to  the  test  that  which  he  had  learnt  in  the  camp 
before  Numantia  of  the  venality  and  corruption  of  the  Roman  no- 
bility. He  sent  embassadors  to  Rome  to  counteract,  by  a  lavish 
distribution  of  bribes,  the  effect  of  the  just  complaints  of  Adherbal, 
and  by  these  means  succeeded  in  averting  the  indignation  of  the 
Senate.  A  decree  was,  however,  passed  for  the  division  of  the 
kingdom  of  Numidia  between  the  two  competitors,  and  a  commit- 
tee of  Senators  sent  to  enforce  its  execution  ;  but  as  soon  as  these 
arrived  in  Africa,  Jugurtha  succeeded  in  gaining  them  over  by  the 
same  unscrupulous  methods,  and  obtained,  in  the  partition  of  the 
kingdom,  the  western  division  adjacent  to  Mauritania,  by  far  the 
larger  and  richer  portion  of  the  two  (B.C.  117).  But  this  advan- 
tage was  far  from  contenting  him,  and  shortly  afterward  he  in- 
vaded the  territories  of  his  rival  with  a  large  army.  Adherbal 
was  defeated  in  the  first  engagement,  his  camp  taken,  and  he  him- 
self with  difficulty  made  his  escape  to  the  strong  fortress  of  Cirta. 
Here  he  was  closely  blockaded  by  Jugurtha.  The  garrison  sur- 
rendered on  a  promise  of  their  lives  being  spared ;  but  these  con- 
ditions were  shamefully  violated  by  Jugurtha,  who  immediately 
put  to  death  Adherbal  and  all  his  followers  (B.C.  112). 

Indignation  was  now  loud  at  Rome  against  the  Numidian  king ; 
yet  so  powerful  was  the  influence  of  those  whose  favor  he  had 
gained  by  his  gold,  that  he  would  probably  have  prevailed  upon 
the  Senate  to  overlook  all  his  misdeeds,  had  not  one  of  the  Trib-* 
unes,  C.  Memmius,  by  bringing  the  matter  before  the  people,  com- 
pelled the  Senators  to  give  way.  War  was  accordingly  declared, 
against  him,  and  one  of  the  Consuls,  L.  Calpurnius  Bestia,  landed, 
in  Africa  with  a  large  army,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  invade. 
Numidia  (B.C.  111).  But  Jugurtha  easily  bribed  Bestia  and  M. 
Scaurus,  who  acted  as  his  principal  lieutenant,  to  grant  him  a  far 
vorable  peace,  on  condition  only  of  a  pretended  submission,  to- 
gether with  the  surrender  of  thirty  elephants  and  a  small  sum  of 
money.  As  soon  as  the  tidings  of  this  disgraceful  transaction 
reached  Rome,  the  indignation  excited  was  so  great  that,  on  the 
proposition  of  C.  Memmius,  it  was  agreed  to  send  the  Prater  L. 
Cassius,  a  man  of  the  highest  integrity,  to  Numidia,  in  order  to 


164  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  Ciup.XXlL 

prevail  on  the  king  to  repair  in  person  to  Rome,  the  popular  party 
toping  to  be  able  to  convict  the  leaders  of  the  Nobility  by  means 
of  his  evidence.  The  safe-conduct  granted  him  by  the  state  was 
religiously  observed  ;  but  the  scheme  failed  of  its  effect,  for,  as  soon 
as  Jugurtha  was  brought  forward  in  the  assembly  of  the  people  to 
make  his  statement,  one  of  the  Tribunes,  who  had  been  previously 
gained  over  by  the  friends  of  Scaurus  and  Bestia,  forbade  him  to 
speak.  He  nevertheless  remained  at  Rome  for  some  time  longer, 
and  engaged  in  secret  intrigues,  which  would  probably  have  been 
ultimately  crowned  with  success  had  he  not  in  the  mean  time  ven- 
tured to  assassinate  Massiva,  son  of  Gulussa,  who  was  putting  in  a 
claim  to  the  Numidian  throne.  It  was  impossible  to  overlook  so 
daring  a  crime,  perpetrated  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  Senate. 
Jugnrtha  was  ordered  to  quit  Italy  without  delay.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  he  is  said,  when  leaving  Rome,  to  have  uttered  the 
memorable  words,  "A  city  for  sale,  and  destined  to  perish  quickly, 
if  it  can  find  a  purchaser." 

War  was  now  inevitable ;  but  the  incapacity  of  Sp.  Postumius 
Albinus.  who  arrived  to  conduct  it  (B.C.  110),  and  still  more  that 
of  his  brother  Aulus,  whom  he  left  to  command  in  his  absence, 
when  called  away  to  hold  the  elections  at  Rome,  proved  as  favora- 
ble to  Jugurtha  as  the  corruption  of  their  predecessors.  Aulus, 
having  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Numidia,  suffered  himself  to 
be  surprised  in  his  camp  ;  great  part  of  his  army  was  cut  to  pieces, 
and  the  rest  only  escaped  a  similar  fate  by  the  ignominy  of  passing 
under  the  yoke.  But  Jugurtha  had  little  reason  to  rejoice  in  this 
success,  great  as  it  might  at  first  appear ;  for  the  disgrace  at  once 
roused  all  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  people ;  the  treaty  concluded 
by  Aulus  was  instantly  annulled,  immense  exertions  made  to  raise 
troops,  and  one  of  the  Consuls  for  the  new  year  (B.C.  109),  Q.  Cae- 
cilius  Metellus,  hastened  to  Numidia  to  retrieve  the  honor  of  the 
Roman  arms.  But  this  did  not  satisfy  the  people.  The  scandal- 
ous conduct  of  so  many  of  the  Nobles  had  given  fresh  life  to  the 
popular  party ;  and  the  Tribune  C.  Mamilius  carried  a  bill  for  the 
appointment  of  three  Commissioners  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of 
all  of  those  who  had  received  bribes  from  Jugurtha.  Scaurus, 
though  one  of  the  most  guilty,  managed  to  be  put  upon  the  Com- 
mission. But  he  dared  not  shield  his  confederates.  Many  men 
of  ihe  highest  rank  were  condemned,  among  whom  were  Bestia, 
Albinus,  and  Opimius.  The  last  named  was  the  Opimius  who  act- 
ed with  such  ferocity  toward  Cains  Gracchus  and  his  party.  He 
died  in  exile  at  Dyrrhachium  some  years  afterward,  in  great  pov- 
erty. 

The  Consul  Metellus,  who  was  an  able  general  and  a  man  of 


B.C.  118-104.    JUGUBTHA  AND  HIS  TIMES.  165 

the  strictest  integrity,  landed  in  Africa,  with  Marius  as  his  lieuten- 
ant, in  B.C.  109.  As  soon  as  Jugurtha  discovered  the  character 
of  the  new  commander  he  began  to  despair  of  success,  and  made 
overtures  for  submission  in  earnest.  These  were  apparently  en- 
tertained by  Metellus,  while  he  sought  in  fact  to  gain  over  the  ad- 
herents of  the  king,  and  induce  them  to  betray  him  to  the  Romans, 
at  the  same  time  that  he  continued  to  advance  into  the  enemy's 
territories.  Jugurtha,  in  his  turn,  detected  his  designs,  attacked 
him  suddenly  on  his  march  with  a  numerous  force,  but  was,  after  a 
severe  struggle,  repulsed,  and  his  army  totally  routed.  Metellus 
ravaged  the  greater  part  of  the  country,  but  failed  in  taking  the 
important  town  of  Zama  before  he  withdrew  into  winter  quarters.. 
But  he  had  produced  such  an  effect  upon  the  Numidian  king,  that 
Jugurtha  was  induced,  in  the  course  of  the  winter,  to  make  offers 
of  unqualified  submission,  and  even  surrendered  all  his  elephants, 
with  a  number  of  arms  and  horses,  and  a  large  sum  of  money,  to 
the  Roman  general ;  but  when  called  upon  to  place  himself  per- 
sonally in  the  power  of  Metellus,  his  courage  failed  him,  he  broke 
off  the  negotiation,  and  once  more  had  recourse  to  arms.  Marius 
had  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  the  preceding  campaign.  The 
readiness  with  which  he  shared  the  toils  of  the  common  soldiers, 
eating  of  the  same  food,  and  working  at  the  same  trenches  with 
them,  had  endeared  him  to  them,  and  through  their  letters  to  their 
friends  at  Rome  his  praises  were  in  every  body's  mouth.  His  in- 
creasing reputation  and  popularity  induced  him  to  aspire  to  the 
Consulship.  His  hopes  were  increased  by  a  circumstance  which 
happened  to  him  at  Utica.  While  sacrificing  at  this  place  the  of- 
ficiating priest  told  him  that  the  victims  predicted  some  great  and 
wonderful  events,  and  bade  him  execute  whatever  purpose  he  had 
in  his  mind.  Marius  thereupon  applied  to  Metellus  for  leave  of 
absence,  that  he  might  proceed  to  Rome  and  offer  himself  as  a 
candidate.  The  Consul,  who  belonged  to  a  family  of  the  highest 
nobility,  at  first  tried  to  dissuade  Marius  from  his  presumptuous 
attempt,  by  pointing  out  the  certainty  of  failure ;  and  when  he 
could  not  prevail  upon  him  to  abandon  his  design,  he  civilly 
evaded  his  request  by  pleading  the  exigencies  of  the  public  service, 
which  required  his  presence  and  assistance.  But,  as  Marius  still 
continued  to  press  him  for  leave  of  absence,  Metellus  said  to  him 
on  one  occasion,  "You  need  not  be  in  such  a  hurry  to  go  to  Rome; 
it  will  be  quite  time  enough  for  you  to  apply  for  the  Consulship 
along  with  my  son."  The  latter,  who  was  then  serving  with  the 
army,  was  a  youth  of  only  twenty  years  of  age,  and  could  not, 
therefore,  become  a  candidate  for  the  Consulship  for  the  next 
twenty  years.  This  insult  was  never  forgotten  by  Marius.  He 


166  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  XXIL 

now  began  to  intrigue  against  his  general,  and  to  represent  that 
the  war  was  purposely  prolonged  by  Metellus  to  gratify  his  own 
vanity  and  love  of  military  power.  He  openly  declared  that  with 
one  half  of  the  army  he  would  soon  have  Jugurtha  in  chains ;  and 
as  all  his  remarks  were  carefully  reported  at  Rome,  the  people  be- 
gan to  regard  him  as  the  only  person  competent  to  finish  the  war. 
Metellus  at  last  allowed  him  to  leave  Africa,  but  only  twelve  days 
before  the  election.  Meeting  with  a  favorable  wind,  he  arrived  at 
Rome  in  time,  and  was  elected  Consul  with  an  enthusiasm  which 
bore  down  all  opposition.  He  received  from  the  people  the  prov- 
ince of  Numidia,  although  the  Senate  had  previously  decreed  that 
Metellus  should  continue  in  his  command.  The  exultation  of 
Marius  knew  no  bounds.  In  his  speeches  to  the  public,  he  gloried 
in  his  humble  origin.  He  upbraided  the  Nobles  with  their  effem- 
inacy and  licentiousness ;  he  told  them  that  he  looked  upon  the 
Consulship  as  a  trophy  of  his  conquest  over  them ;  and  he  proudly 
compared  his  own  wounds  and  military  experience  with  their  indo- 
lence and  ignorance  of  war.  It  was  a  great  triumph  for  the  peo- 
ple and  a  great  humiliation  for  the  aristocracy,  and  Marius  made 
them  drink  to  the  dregs  the  bitter  cup.  While  engaged  in  these 
attacks  upon  the  Nobility,  he  at  the  same  time  carried  on  a  levy  of 
troops  with  great  activity,  and  enrolled  any  persons  who  chose  to 
offer  for  the  service,  however  poor  and  mean,  instead  of  taking 
them  from  the  five  classes  according  to  ancient  custom.* 

Meantime  Metellus  had  been  carrying  on  the  war  in  Africa  as 
Proconsul  (B.C.  108).  But  the  campaign  was  not  productive  of 
such  decisive  results  as  might  have  been  expected.  Jugurtha 
avoided  any  general  action,  and  eluded  the  pursuit  of  Metellus  by 
the  rapidity  of  his  movements.  Even  when  driven  from  Thala,  a 
strong-hold  which  he  had  deemed  inaccessible  from  its  position  in 
the  midst  of  arid  deserts,  he  only  retired  among  the  Gaetulians,  and 
quickly  succeeded  in  raising  among  those  wild  tribes  a  fresh  army, 
with  which  he  once  more  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Numidia. 
A  still  more  important  accession  was  that  of  Bocchus,  king  of 
Mauritania,  who  had  been  prevailed  upon  to  raise  an  arm}',  and 
advance  to  the  support  of  Jugurtha.  Metellus,  however,  having 
now  relaxed  his  own  efforts,  from  disgust  at  hearing  that  C.  Marius 
had  been  appointed  to  succeed  him  in  the  command,  remained  on 
the  defensive,  while  he  sought  to  amuse  the  Moorish  king  by  ne- 
gotiation. 

The  arrival  of  Marius  (B  c.  107)  infused  fresh  vigor  into  the  Ro- 
man arms.  He  quickly  reduced  in  succession  almost  all  the  strong- 
holds that  still  remained  to  Jugurtha,  in  some  of  which  the  king 
•  On  this  important  change  in  the  Roman  army,  sec  p.  124 


B.C.  107-10G.          MA1UUS  AND  SULLA.  167 

had  deposited  his  principal  treasures ;  and  the  latter,  seeing  him> 
self  thus  deprived  step  by  step  of  all  his  dominions,  at  length  de- 
termined on  a  desperate  attempt  to  retrieve  his  fortunes  by  one 
grand  effort.  He  with  difficulty  prevailed  on  the  wavering  Bocchus, 
by  the  most  extensive  promises  in  case  of  success,  to  co-operate 
with  him  in  this  enterprise ;  and  the  two  kings,  with  their  united 
forces,  attacked  Marius  on  his  march,  when  he  was  about  to  retire 
into  winter  quarters.  Though  the  Roman  general  was  taken  by 
Surprise  for  a  moment,  his  consummate  skill  and  the  discipline  of 
his  troops  proved  again  triumphant ;  the  Numidians  were  repulsed, 
and  their  army,  as  usual  with  them  in  case  of  a  defeat,  dispersed  in 
all  directions.  Jugurtha  himself,  after  displaying  the  greatest  cour- 
age in  the  action,  cut  his  way  almost  alone  through  a  body  of  Ro- 
man cavalry,  and  escaped  from  the  field  of  battle.  He  quickly  again 
gathered  round  him  a  body  of  Numidian  horse  ;  but  his  only  hope 
of  continuing  the  war  now  rested  on  Bocchus.  The  latter  was  for 
some  time  uncertain  what  course  to  adopt,  but  was  at  length  gain- 
ed over  by  Sulla,  the  Quaestor  of  Marius,  to  the  Roman  cause,  and 
joined  in  a  plan  for  seizing  the  person  of  the  Numidian  king.  Ju- 
gurtha  fell  into  the  snare ;  he  was  induced,  under  pretense  of  a 
conference,  to  repair  with  only  a  few  followers  to  meet  Bocchus, 
when  he  was  instantly  surrounded,  his  attendants  cut  to  pieces,  and 
he  himself  made  prisoner,  and  delivered  in  chains  to  Sulla,  by 
whom  he  was  conveyed  directly  to  the  camp  of  Marius.  This  oc- 
curred early  in  the  year  B.C.  106. 

L.  Cornelius  Sulla,  the  Quaestor  of  Marius,  who  afterward  plays 
such  a  distinguished  part  in  Roman  history,  was  descended  from  a 
Patrician  family  which  had  been  reduced  to  great  obscurity.  But 
his  means  were  sufficient  to  secure  him  a  good  education.  He 
studied  the  Greek  and  Roman  writers  with  diligence  and  success, 
and  early  imbibed  that  love  of  literature  and  art  by  which  he  was 
distinguished  throughout  his  life.  But  he  was  also  fond  of  pleas- 
ure, and  was  conspicuous  even  among  the  Romans  for  licentious- 
ness and  debauchery.  He  was  in  every  respect  a  contrast  to  Ma- 
rius. He  possessed  all  the  accomplishments  and  all  the  vices  which 
the  old  Cato  had  been  most  accustomed  to  denounce,  and  he  was 
one  of  those  advocates  of  Greek  literature  and  of  Greek  profligacy 
who  had  since  Cato's  time  become  more  and  more  common  among 
the  Roman  Nobles.  But  Sulla's  love  of  pleasure  did  not  absorb 
all  his  time,  nor  enfeeble  his  mind ;  for  no  Roman  during  the  lat- 
ter days  of  the  Republic,  with  the  exception  of  Julius  Caisar,  had  a 
clearer  judgment,  a  keener  discrimination  of  character,  or  a  firmer 
will.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Africa,  Marius  was  not  well  pleased  that 
a  Quxstor  had  been  assigned  to  him  who  was  only  knowa  for  his 


168  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

profligacy,  and  who  had  bad  no  experience  in  war ;  but  the  zeal  and 
energy  with  which  Sulla  attended  to  his  new  duties  soon  rendered 
him  a  useful  and  skillful  officer,  and  gained  for  him  the  unquali- 
fied approbation  of  his  commander,  notwithstanding  his  previous 
prejudices  against  him.  He  was  equally  successful  in  winning  the 
affections  of  the  soldiers.  He  always  addressed  them  with  the 
greatest  kindness,  seized  every  opportunity  of  conferring  favors  upon 
them,  was  ever  ready  to  take  part  in  all  the  jests  of  the  camp,  and 
at  the  same  time  never  shrank  from  sharing  in  all  their  labors  and 
dangers.  It  is  a  curious  circumstance  that  Marius  gave  to  his  fu- 
ture enemy  and  the  destroyer  of  his  family  and  party  the  first  op- 
portunity of  distinguishing  himself.  The  enemies  of  Marius  claim- 
ed for  Sulla  the  glory  of  the  betrayal  of  Jugurtha,  and  Sulla  him- 
self took  the  credit  of  it  by  always  wearing  a  signet  ring  repre- 
senting the  scene  of  the  surrender. 

Marius  continued  more  than  a  year  in  Africa  after  the  capture  of 
Jugurtha.  He  entered  Rome  on  the  first  of  January,  B.C.  104,  lead- 
ing Jugurtha  in  triumph.  The  Numidian  king  was  then  thrown 
into  a  dungeon,  and  there  starved  to  death.  Marius,  during  his 
absence,  had  been  elected  Consul  a  second  time,  and  he  entered 
upon  his  office  on  the  day  of  his  triumph.  The  reason  of  this  un- 
precedented honor  will  be  related  in  the  following  chapter. 


Soldiers  blowing  Tubte  and  Cornua.    (From  Column  of  Trajan.  > 


(Jaius  Marina. 


CHAPTEE  XXIII. 

THE   CIMBEI  AND  TEUTONES,  B.C.  113-101. — SECOND  SERVILE  WAS 
IN   SICILY,  B.C.  103-101. 

A  GREATER  danger  than  Rome  had  experienced  since  the  time 
of  Hannibal  now  threatened  the  state.  Vast  numbers  of  barbari- 
ans, such  as  spread  over  the  south  of  Europe  in  the  later  times  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  had  collected  together  on  the  northern  side  of 
the  Alps,  and  were  ready  to  pour  down  upon  Italy.  The  two  lead- 
ing nations  of  which  they  consisted  are  called  Cimbri  and  Teutones, 
of  whom  the  former  were  probably  Celts  and  the  latter  Germans, 
but  the  exact  parts  of  Europe  from  which  they  came  can  not  be  as- 
certained. The  whole  host  is  said  to  have  contained  300,000  fight- 
ing men,  besides  a  much  larger  number  of  women  and  children. 
The  alarm  at  Rome  was  still  farther  increased  by  the  ill  success 
which  had  hitherto  attended  the  arms  of  the  Republic  against  these 
barbarians.  Army  after  army  had  fallen  before  them.  The  Cimbri 
were  first  heard  of  in  B.C.  113,  in  Noricum,  whence  they  descended 
into  Illyricum,  and  defeated  a  Roman  army  under  the  command  of 
Cn.  Papirius  Carbo.  They  then  marched  westward  into  Switzer- 
land, where  they  were  joined  by  the  Tigurini  and  the  Ambrones. 
They  next  poured  over  Gaul,  which  they  plundered  and  ravaged  in 
every  direction.  The  Romans  sent  army  after  army  to  defend  the 
southwestern  part  of  the  country,  which  was  now  a  Roman  prov- 
ince; but  all  in  vain.  In  B.C.  109  the  Consul  M.  Junius  Silauus 
was  defeated  by  the  Cimbri ;  in  B.C.  107  the  Tigurini  cut  in  pieces, 
near  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  the  army  of  the  Consul  L.  Cassius  Lon- 


170  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXIH 

ginus,  the  colleague  of  Marias,  who  lost  his  life  in  the  battle ;  and 
shortly  afterward  M.  Aurelius  Scaurus  was  also  defeated  and  taken 
prisoner.  But  the  most  dreadful  loss  was  still  to  come.  In  B.C. 
105  two  consular  armies,  commanded  by  the  Consul  Cn,  Mallius 
Maximus  and  the  Proconsul  Cn.  Servilius  Capio,  consisting  of 
80,000  men,  were  completely  annihilated  by  the  barbarians:  only 
two  men  are  said  to  have  escaped  the  slaughter. 
.  These  repeated  disasters  hushed  all  party  quarrels.  Every  one 
fet  Kome  felt  that  Marius  was  the  only  man  capable  of  saving  the 
state,  and  he  was  accordingly  elected  Consul  by  the  unanimous 
votes  of  all  parties  while  he  was  still  absent  in  Africa.  He  enter- 
ed Eome  in  triumph,  as  we  have  already  said,  on  the  1st  of  Janu- 
ary, B.C.  lOi,  which  was  the  first  day  of  his  second  Consulship. 
Meantime  the  threatened  danger  was  for  a  while  averted.  Instead 
of  crossing  the  Alps  and  pouring  down  upon  Italy,  as  had  been  ex- 
pected, the  Cimbri  marched  into  Spain,  which  they  ravaged  for  the 
next  two  or  three  years.  This  interval  was  advantageously  em- 
ployed by  Marius  in  training  the  new  troops,  and  accustoming  them 
to  hardships  and  toil.  It  was  probably  during  this  time  that  he 
introduced  the  various  changes  into  the  organization  of  the  Ro- 
man army  which  are  usually  attributed  to  him.  Notwithstanding 
the  sternness  and  severity  with  which  he  punished  the  least  breach 
of  discipline,  he  was  a  favorite  with  his  new  soldiers,  who  learned 
to  place  implicit  confidence  in  their  general,  and  were  delighted 
with  the  strict  impartiality  with  which  he  visited  the  offenses  of  the 
officers  as  well  as  of  the  privates.  As  the  enemy  still  continued  in 
Spain,  Marius  was  elected  Consul  a  third  time  for  the  year  B.C. 
103,  and  also  a  fourth  time  for  the  following  year,  with  Q.  Lutatius 
Catulus  as  his  colleague.  It  was  in  this  year  (B.C.  102)  that  the 
long-expected  barbarians  arrived.  The  Cimbri,  Avho  had  returned 
from  Spain,  united  their  forces  with  the  Teutones.  Marius  first 
took  up  his  position  in  a  fortified  camp  upon  the  Rhone,  probably 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  modern  Aries ;  and  as  the  entrance  of  the 
river  was  nearly  blocked  up  by  mud  and  sand,  he  employed  his  sol- 
diers in  digging  a  canal  from  the  Rhone  to  the  Mediterranean,  that 
he  might  the  more  easily  obtain  his  supplies  from  the  sea.*  Mean- 
time the  barbarians  had  divided  their  forces.  The  Cimbri  march- 
ed round  the  northern  foot  of  the  Alps,  in  order  to  enter  Italy  by 
the  northeast,  crossing  the  Tyrolese  Alps  by  the  defiles  of  Triden- 
tum  (TVenZ).  The  Teutones  and  Ambrones,  on  the  other  hand, 
marched  against  Marius,  intending,  as  it  seems,  to  penetrate  into 
Italy  by  Nice  and  the  Riviera  of  Genoa.  Marius,  anxious  to  ac- 

•  This  canal  continued  to  exist  long  afterward,  and  bore  the  name  of  Fossa 
Mariana. 


B.C.  113-101.  THE  CIMBRI  AND  TEUTONES.  171 

custom  his  soldiers  to  the  savage  and  strange  appearance  of  the 
barbarians,  would  not  give  them  battle  at  first.  The  latter  resolved 
to  attack  the  Roman  camp ;  but  as  they  were  repulsed  in  this  at- 
tempt, they  pressed  on  at  once  for  Italy.  So  great  were  their  num- 
bers, that  they  are  said  to  have  been  six  days  in  marching  by  the 
Roman  camp.  As  soon  as  they  had  advanced  a  little  way,  Maritis 
followed  them ;  and  thus  the  armies  continued  to  march  for  a  few 
days,  the  barbarians  in  the  front  and  Marius  behind,  till  they  came 
to  the  neighborhood  of  Aquae  Sextise  (Aix}.  Here  the  decisive  bat- 
tle was  fought.  An  ambush  of  3000  soldiers,  which  Marius  had 
stationed  in  the  rear  of  the  barbarians,  and  which  fell  upon  them 
when  they  were  already  retreating,  decided  the  fortune  of  the  day. 
Attacked  both  in  front  and  rear,  and  also  dreadfully  exhausted  by 
the  excessive  heat  of  the  weather,  they  at  length  broke  their  ranks 
and  fled.  The  carnage  was  dreadful ;  the  whole  nation  was  anni- 
hilated, for  those  who  escaped  put  an  end  to  their  lives,  and  their 
wives  followed  their  example.  Immediately  after  the  battle,  as 
Marius  was  in  the  act  of  setting  fire  to  the  vast  heap  of  broken 
arms  which  was  intended  as  an  offering  to  the  gods,  horsemen  rode 
up  to  him,  and  greeted  him  with  the  news  of  his  being  elected  Con- 
sul for  the  fifth  time. 

The  Cimbri,  in  the  mean  time,  had  forced  their  way  into  Italy. 
The  colleague  of  Marius,  Q.  Lutatius  Catulus,  despairing  of  de- 
fending the  passes  of  the  Tyrol,  had  taken  up  a  strong  position  on 
the  Athesis  (Adige)  ;  but,  in  consequence  of  the  terror  of  his  sol- 
diers at  the  approach  of  the  barbarians,  he  was  obliged  to  retreat 
even  beyond  the  Po,  thus  leaving  the  whole  of  the  rich  plain  of 
Lombardy  exposed  to  their  ravages.  Marius  was  therefore  recalled 
to  Rome.  The  Senate  offered  him  a  triumph  for  his  victory  over 
the  Teutones,  which  he  declined  while  the  Cimbri  were  in  Italy, 
and  proceeded  to  join  Catulus,  who  now  commanded  as  Proconsul 
(B.C.  101).  The  united  armies  of  the  Consul  and  Proconsul  cross- 
ed the  Po,  and  hastened  in  search  of  the  Cimbri,  whom  they  found 
to  the  westward  of  Milan,  near  Vercelhc,  searching  for  the  Teutones, 
of  whose  destruction  they  had  not  yet  heard.  The  Cimbri  met 
with  the  same  fate  as  the  Teutones ;  the  whole  nation  was  annihi- 
lated ;  and  the  women,  like  those  of  the  Teutones,  put  an  end  to 
their  lives.  Marius  was  hailed  as  the  savior  of  the  state  ;  his  name 
was  coupled  with  the  gods  in  the  libations  and  at  banquets;  and 
he  received  the  title  of  third  founder  of  Rome.  He  celebrated  his 
victories  by  a  brilliant  triumph,  in  which,  however,  he  allowed  Ca- 
tulus to  share. 

During  the  brilliant  campaigns  of  Marius,  Sicily  had  been  ex- 
posed to  the  horrors  of  a  second  Servile  War.  The  insurrection 


172 


HISTORY  OF  HOME. 


CHAP.  XXIII. 


broke  out  in  the  east  of  the  island,  where  the  slaves  elected  as 
their  king  one  Salvius,  a  soothsayer.  He  displayed  considerable 
abilities,  and  in  a  short  time  collected  a  force  of  20,000  foot  and 
2000  horse.  After  defeating  a  Roman  army  he  assumed  all  the 
pomp  of  royalty,  and  took  the  surname  of  Tryphon,  which  had  been 
borne  by  a  usurper  to  the  Syrian  throne.  The  success  of  Salvius 
led  to  an  insurrection  in  the  western  part  of  the  island,  where  the 
slaves  chose  as  their  leader  a  Cilician  named  Athenio,  who  joined 
Tryphon,  and  acknowledged  his  sovereignty.  Upon  the  death  of 
Tryphon,  Athenio  became  king.  The  insurrection  had  now  as- 
sumed such  a  formidable  aspect  that,  in  B.C.  101,  the  Senate  sent 
the  Consul  M.  Aquillius  into  Sicily.  He  succeeded  in  subduing  the 
insurgents,  and  killed  Athenio  with  his  own  hand.  The  survivors 
were  sent  to  Rome,  and  condemned  to  fight  with  wild  beasts  ;  but 
they  disdained  to  minister  to  the  pleasures  of  their  oppressors,  and 
slew  eaeh  other  with  their  own  hands  in  the  amphitheatre. 


fasces.    (From  the  original  in  the  Capitol  at  Home.) 


Tomb  of  Metella  Caecilia. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

INTERNAL    HISTORY    OF    ROMK   FROM    THE    DEFEAT   OF   THE    CIMBRI 
AND  TEUTONES   TO  THE    SOCIAL   WAR.       B.C.  100-91. 

THE  career  of  Marius  had  hitherto  been  a  glorious  one,  and  it 
would  have  been  fortunate  for  him  if  he  had  died  on  the  day  of  his 
triumph.  The  remainder  of  his  life  is  full  of  horrors,  and  brings 
out  into  prominent  relief  the  worst  features  of  his  character.  As 
the  time  for  the  consular  elections  approached,  Marius  became 
again  a  candidate  for  the  Consulship.  He  wished  to  be  first  in 
peace  as  well  as  in  war,  and  to  rule  the  state  as  well  as  the  army. 
But  he  did  not  possess  the  qualities  requisite  for  a  popular  leader 
at  Rome ;  he  had  no  power  of  oratory,  and  lost  his  presence  of 
mind  in  the  noise  and  shouts  of  the  popular  assemblies.  In  order 
to  secure  his  election,  he  entered  into  close  connection  with  two  of 
the  worst  demagogues  that  ever  appeared  at  Rome,  Saturninus  and 
Glaucia.  The  former  was  a  candidate  for  the  Tribunate,  and  the 
latter  for  the  Praetorship ;  and  by  their  means,  as  well  as  by  brib- 
ing the  Tribes,  Marius  secured  his  election  to  the  Consulship  for 


174  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXIV. 

the  sixth  time.  Glaucia  also  obtained  the  Practorship,  but  Satur- 
iiiiius  was  not  equally  successful.  He  lost  his  election  chiefly 
through  the  exertions  of  A.  Nonius,  who  was  chosen  in  his  stead. 
But  Nonius  paid  dearly  for  the  honor,  for  on  the  evening  of  his 
election  he  was  murdered  by  the  emissaries  of  Saturninus  and 
Glaucia,  and  next  morning,  at  an  early  hour,  before  the  forum 
was  full,  Saturninus  was  chosen  to  fill  up  the  vacancy. 

As  soon  as  Saturninus  had  entered  upon  his  office  (B.C.  100)  he 
brought  forward  an  Agrarian  Law  for  dividing  among  the  soldiers 
of  Marius  the  lands  in  Gaul  which  had  been  lately  occupied  by  the 
Cimbri.  He  added  to  the  law  a  clause  that,  if  it  was  enacted  by 
the  people,  every  Senator  should  swear  obedience  to  it  within  five 
days,  and  that  whoever  refused  to  do  so  should  be  expelled  from 
tho  Senate,  and  pay  a  fine  of  twenty  talents.  This  clause  was 
specially  aimed  at  Metellus,  who,  it  was  well  known,  would  refuse 
to  obey  the  requisition.  In  order  to  insure  a  refusal  on  the  part 
of  Metellus,  Marius  rose  in  the  Senate,  and  declared  that  he  would 
never  take  the  oath,  and  Metellus  made  the  same  declaration ; 
but  when  the  law  had  been  passed,  and  Saturninus  summoned  the 
Senators  to  the  rostra  to  comply  with  the  demands  of  the  law, 
Marius,  to  the  astonishment  of  all,  immediately  took  the  oath,  and 
advised  the  Senate  to  follow  his  example.  Metellus  alone  refused 
compliance  ;  and  on  the  following  day  Saturninus  sent  his  beadle 
to  drag  him  out  of  the  Senate-house.  Not  content  with  this  vic- 
tory, Saturninus  brought  forward  a  bill  to  punish  him  with  exile. 
The  friends  of  Metellus  were  ready  to  take  up  arms  in  his  defense ; 
but  he  declined  their  assistance,  and  withdrew  privately  from  the 
city.  Satuminus  -brought  forward  other  popular  measures,  of 
which  our  information  is  very  scanty.  He  proposed  a  Lex  Frumen- 
taria,  by  which  the  state  was  to  sell  corn  to  the  people  at  a  very 
low  price ;  and  also  a  law  for  founding  new  colonies  in  Sicily, 
Achaia,  and  Macedonia.  In  the  election  of  the  magistrates  for 
the  following  year  Saturninus  was  again  chosen  Tribune.  Glaucia 
was  at  the  same  time  a  candidate  for  the  Consulship,  the  two  other 
candidates  being  M.  Antonius  and  C.  Memmius.  The  election  of 
Antonius  was  certain,  and  the  struggle  lay  between  Glaucia  and 
Memmius.  As  the  latter  seemed  likely  to  carry  his  election,  Sat- 
urninus and  Glaucia  hired  some  ruffians,  who  murdered  him  open- 
ly in  the  comitia.  All  sensible  people  had  previously  become 
alarmed  at  the  mad  conduct  of  Saturninus  and  his  partisans,  and 
this  last  act  produced  a  complete  reaction  against  them.  The 
Senate  felt  themselves  now  sufficiently  strong  to  declare  them 
public  enemies,  and  ii.vested  the  Consuls  with  dictatorial  power. 
Marius  was  unwilling  to  act  against  his  associates,  but  he  had  no 


B.C.  100-91.  FACTIONS  IN  KOME.  175 

alternative,  and  his  backwardness  was  compensated  by  the  zeal  of 
others.  Driven  out  of  the  forum,  Saturninus,  Glaucia,  and  the 
Quaestor  Saufeius  took  refuge  in  the  Capitol,  but  the  partisans  of 
the  Senate  cut  off  the  pipes  which  supplied  the  citadel  with  water 
before  Marius  began  to  move  against  them.  Unable  to  hold  out 
any  longer,  they  surrendered  to  Marius.  The  latter  did  all  he 
could  to  save  their  lives  :  as  soon  as  they  descended  from  the  Cap- 
itol, he  placed  them,  for  security,  in  the  Curia  Hostilia ;  but  the 
mob  pulled  oft'  the  tiles  of  the  Senate-house,  and  pelted  them  till 
they  died.  The  Senate  gave  their  sanction  to  the  proceeding  by 
rewarding  with  the  citizenship  a  slave  of  the  name  of  Sco;va,  who 
claimed  the  honor  of  having  killed  Satnrninus. 

Marius  had  lost  all  influence  in  the  state  by  allying  himself  with 
such  unprincipled  adventurers.  In  the  following  year  (B.C.  99)  he 
left  Rome,  in  order  that  he  might  not  witness  the  return  of  Metel- 
lus  from  exile,  a  measure  which  he  had  been  unable  to  prevent. 
He  set  sail  for  Cappadocia  and  Galatia  under  the  pretense  of  of- 
fering sacrifices  which  he  had  vowed  to  the  Great  Mother.  He 
had,  however,  a  deeper  purpose  in  visiting  these  countries.  Find- 
ing that  he  was  losing  his  popularity  while  the  Republic  was  at 
peace,  he  was  anxious  to  recover  his  lost  ground  by  gaining  fresh 
victories  m  war,  and  accordingly  repaired  to  the  court  of  Mithri- 
datls,  iti  hop^s  of  rousing  him  to  attack  the  Romans. 

The  mad  scheme  of  Saturninus,  and  the  discredit  into  which 
Marius  had  fallen,  had  given  new  strength  to  the  Senate.  They 
judged  the  opportunity  favorable  for  depriving  the  Equites  of  the 
judicial  power  which  they  had  enjoyed,  with  only  a  temporary  ces- 
sation, since  the  time  of  C.  Gracchus.  The  Equites  had  abused 
their  power,  as  the  Senate  had  done  before  them.  They  were  the 
capitalists  who  farmed  the  public  revenues  in  the  provinces,  where 
they  committed  peculation  and  extortion  with  habitual  impunity. 
When  accused,  they  were  tried  by  accomplices  and  partisans. 
Their  unjust  condemnation  of  Rutilius  Rufus  had  shown  how  unfit 
they  were  to  be  intrusted  with  judicial  duties.  Rutilius  was  a  man 
of  spotless  integrity,  and  while  acting  as  lieutenant  to  Q.  Mucius 
Scrcvola,  Proconsul  of  Asia  in  B.C.  95,  he  displayed  so  much  hon- 
esty and  firmness  in  repressing  the  extortions  of  the  farmers  of  the 
taxes,  that  he  became  an  object  of  fear  and  hatred  to  the  whole 
bo'ly.  Accordingly,  on  his  return  to  Rome,  a  charge  of  malversa- 
tion was  trumped  up  against  him,  he  was  found  guilty,  and  com- 
pelled to  withdraw  into  banishment  (B.C.  92). 

The  following  year  (B.C.  91)  witnessed  the  memorable  Tribunate 
of  M.  Livius  Drusus.  He  was  the  son  of  the  celebrated  opponent 
of  C.  Gracchus.  He  was  a  man  of  boundless  activity  and  extraor- 


176  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXIV. 

dinary  ability.  Like  his  father,  he  was  an  advocate  of  the  party 
of  the  Nobles.  He  took  up  arms  against  Saturninus,  and  support- 
ed the  Senate  in  the  dispute  for  the  possession  of  the  judicial  pow- 
er. His  election  to  the  Tribunate  was  hailed  by  the  Nobles  with 
delight,  and  for  a  time  he  possessed  their  unlimited  confidence. 
He  gained  over  the  people  to  the  party  of  the  Senate  by  various 
popular  measures,  such  as  the  distribution  of  corn  at  a  low  price, 
and  the  establishment  of  colonies  in  Italy  and  Sicily.  He  was 
thus  enabled  to  carry  his  measures  for  the  reform  of  the  judicia, 
which  were,  that  the  Senate  should  be  increased  from  300  to  COO 
by  the  addition  of  an  equal  number  of  Equites,  and  that  the  Judi- 
ces  should  be  taken  from  the  Senate  thus  doubled  in  numbers. 
Drusus  seems  to  have  been  actuated  by  a  single-minded  desire  to 
do  justice  to  all,  but  the  measure  was  acceptable  to  neither  party. 
The  Senators  viewed  with  dislike  the  elevation  to  their  own  rank 
of  300  Equites,  while  the  Equites  had  no  desire  to  transfer  to  a 
select  few  of  their  own  order  the  profitable  share  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  which  they  all  enjoyed. 

Another  measure  of  Drusus  rendered  him  equally  unpopular  with 
the  people.  He  had  held  out  to  the  Latins  and  the  Italian  allies 
the  promise  of  the  Roman  franchise.  Some  of  the  most  eminent 
men  of  Rome  had  long  been  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  this  re- 
form. It  had  been  meditated  by  the  younger  Scipio  Africanus, 
and  proposed  by  C.  Gracchus.  The  Roman  people,  however,  al- 
ways offered  it  the  most  violent  opposition.  But  Drusus  still  had 
many  partisans.  The  Italian  allies  looked  up  to  him  as  their  lead- 
er, and  loudly  demanded  the  rights  which  had  been  promised  them. 
It  was  too  late  to  retreat ;  and,  in  order  to  oppose  the  formidable 
coalition  against  him,  Drusus  had  recourse  to  sedition  and  conspir- 
acy. A  secret  society  was  formed,  in  which  the  members  bound 
themselves  by  a  ^olemn  oath  to  have  the  same  friends  and  foes 
with  Drusus,  and  to  obey  all  his  commands.  The  ferment  soon 
became  so  great  that  the  public  peace  was  more  than  once  threat- 
ened. The  Allies  were  -ready  to  take  up  arms  at  the  first  move- 
ment. The  Consuls,  looking  upon  Drusus  as  a  conspirator,  re- 
solved to  meet  his  plots  by  counterplots.  But  he  knew  his  dan- 
ger, and  whenever  he  went  into  the  city  kept  a  strong  body-guard 
of  attendants  close  to  his  person.  The  end  could  not  much  longer 
be  postponed ;  and  the  civil  war  was  on  the  point  of  breaking  out, 
when  one  evening  Drusus  was  assassinated  in  his  own  house,  while 
dismissing  the  crowds  who  were  attending  him.  A  leather-cut- 
ter's knife  was  found  sticking  in  his  loins.  Turning  round  to  those 
•who  surrounded  him,  he  asked  them,  as  he  was  dying, "  Friends 


B.C.  91. 


M.  LIVIUS  DRUSUS. 


177 


and  neighbors,  -when  will  the  Commonwealth  have  a  citizen  like 
me  again?" 

Even  in  the  lifetime  of  Drusus  the  Senate  had  repealed  all  his 
laws.  After  his  death  the  Tribune  Q.  Varius  brought  forward  a 
law  declaring  all  persons  guilty  of  high  treason  who  had  assisted 
the  cause  of  the  Allies.  Many  eminent  men  were  condemned  un- 
der this  law.  This  measure,  following  the  assassination  of  Drusus, 
roused  the  indignation  of  the  Allies  to  the  highest  pitch.  They 
clearly  saw  that  the  Roman  people  would  yield  nothing  except 
upon  compulsion. 


Beneventum  in  Samnium. 

M 


Coin  of  the  Eight  Italian  Nations  taking  the  Oath  of  Federation. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE    SOCIAL   OR   MARSIC    WAR.       B.C.  90-89. 

HOME  had  never  been  exposed  to  greater  danger  than  at  this 
time.  Those  who  had  been  her  bravest  defenders  now  rose  against 
her ;  and  she  would  probably  have  perished  had  the  whole  Italian 
people  taken  part  in  the  war.  But  the  insurrection  was  confined 
almost  exclusively  to  the  Sabellians  and  their  kindred  races.  The 
Etruscans  and  Umbrians  stood  aloof,  while  the  Sabines,  Volscians, 
and  other  tribes  who  already  possessed  the  Roman  franchise,  sup- 
ported the  Republic,  and  furnished  the  materials  of  her  armies. 
The  nations  which  composed  the  formidable  conspiracy  against 
Rome  were  eight  in  number — the  Marsians,  Pelignians,  Marrucin- 
ians,  Vestinians,  Picentines,  Samnites,  Apulians,  and  Lucanians. 
Of  these  the  Marsians  were  particularly  distinguished  for  their 
courage  and  skill  in  war ;  and  from  the  prominent  part  which  they 
took  in  the  struggle,  it  was  frequently  termed  the  Marsic  as  well  as 
the  Social  War. 

The  war  broke  out  at  Asculum  in  Picenum.  The  Proconsul 
Q.  Servilius,  who  had  the  charge  of  this  part  of  Italy,  hearing  that 
the  inhabitants  of  Asculum  were  organizing  a  revolt,  entered  the 
town,  and  endeavored  to  persuade  them  to  lay  aside  their  hos- 
tile intentions.  But  he  was  murdered,  together  with  his  legate, 
by  the  exasperated  citizens,  and  all  the  Romans  in  the  place  were 
likewise  put  to  death.  The  insurrection  now  became  general. 
The  Allies  entered  upon  the  war  with  feelings  of  bitter  hatred 
against  their  former  rulers.  They  resolved  to  destroy  Rome,  and 
fixed  upon  Corfinium,  a  strong  city  of  the  Peligni,  to  which  they 
gave  the  name  of  Italica,  as  the  new  capital  of  the  Italian  Confed- 
eration. The  government  of  the  new  Republic  was  borrowed  from 
that  of  Rome.  It  was  to  have  two  Consuls,  twelve  Praetors,  and 
a  Senate  of  500  members.  Q.  Pompa^dius  Silo,  a  Marsian,  one  of 


B.C.  90-80.          SOCIAL  OK  MAHSIC  WAR.  179 

the  chief  instigators  of  the  war,  and  C.  Papius  Mutilus,  a  Samnite, 
who  cherished  the  hereditary  hatred  of  his  countrymen  against  the 
Romans,  were  chosen  Consuls.  Under  them  were  many  able  lieu- 
tenants, who  had  learned  the  art  of  war  under  the  best  Roman 
generals.  The  soldiers  had  also  served  in  the  Roman  armies,  and 
were  armed  and  disciplined  in  the  same  way,  so  that  the  contest 
partook  of  all  the  characters  of  a  civil  war.  But  the  Romans  had 
the  great  advantage  which  a  single  state  always  possesses  over  a 
confederation. 

Of  the  details  of  the  war  our  information  is  meagre  and  imper- 
fect. But  in  the  military  operations  we  clearly  see  that  the  Allies 
formed  two  principal  groups  :  the  one  composed  of  the  Marsians, 
with  their  neighbors  the  Marrucinians,  Pelignians,  Vestinians,  and 
Picentines ;  the  other  of  the  Samnites,  with  the  Lucanians  and 
Apulians.  The  two  Consuls,  L.  Julius  Caesar  and  P.  Rutilius  Lu- 
pus, took  the  field  with  powerful  armies,  and  under  them  served 
Marius,  Sulla,  and  the  most  experienced  generals  of  the  time.  The 
Romans  were  fully  aware  of  the  formidable  nature  of  the  struggle, 
which  was  one  for  existence,  and  not  for  victory.  In  the  first  cam- 
paign the  advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  Allies.  The  Samnites, 
under  their  Consul  Papius,  overran  Campania,  took  most  of  the 
towns,  and  laid  siege  to  Aceme,  into  which  Csesar  threw  himself. 
Pompaedius  Silo  was  still  more  successful.  He  defeated  the  Ro- 
man Consul  P.  Rutilius  Lupus  with  great  slaughter,  Rutilius  him- 
self being  slain  in  the  battle.  This  disaster  was  to  some  extent 
repaired  by  Mantis,  who  commanded  a  separate  army  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  compelled  the  victorious  Allies  to  retire.  The  old 
general  then  intrenched  himself  in  a  fortified  camp,  and  neither 
the  stratagems  nor  the  taunts  of  the  Samnites  could  entice  him 
from  his  advantageous  position.  "If  you  are  a  great  general,"  said 
Pompasdius,  "come  down  and  fight;"  to  which  the  veteran  re- 
plied, "  Nay,  do  you,  if  you  are  a  great  general,  compel  me  to  fight 
against  my  will."  The  Romans  considered  that  Marius  was  over- 
cautious and  too  slow;  and  Plutarch  says  that  his  age  and  corpu- 
lence rendered  him  incapable  of  enduring  the  fatigue  of  very  active 
service.  But  it  is  more  probable  that  he  was  not  very  willing  to 
destroy  the  Allies,  who  had  been  among  his  most  active  partisans, 
and  to  whom  he  still  looked  for  support  in  his  future  struggles 
with  the  Nobility. 

The  Romans  now  saw  the  necessity  of  making  some  concessions. 
The  Lex  Julia,  proposed  by  the  Consul  Julius  Csesar,  granted  the 
franchise  to  all  the  Latin  colonies,  and  to  those  of  the  Allies  who 
had  remained  faithful  to  Rome,  or  had  laid  down  their  arms.  The 
effects  of  this  concession  were  immediately  seen.  Several  of  the 


180  HISTOKY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXV. 

Allies  hastened  to  avail  themselves  of  it,  and  disunion  and  distrust 
were  produced  among  the  rest. 

The  next  campaign  (B.C.  89)  was  decidedly  favorable  to  the  Ro- 
mans. The  Consuls  were  Cn.  Pompeius  Strabo,  the  father  of  the 
celebrated  Triumvir,  and  L.  Porcius  Cato.  The  latter,  it  is  true, 
was  slain  at  the  commencement  of  the  campaign  ;  but  his  loss 
was  more  than  compensated  by  his  lieutenant  Sulla  obtaining,  in 
consequence,  the  supreme  command.  He  carried  on  the  war  with 
the  utmost  vigor,  and  completely  eclipsed  his  old  commander  Ma- 
rius.  He  drove  the  enemy  out  of  Campania,  subdued  the  Hirpini, 
and  then  penetrated  into  the  very  heart  of  Samnium.  Here  he  de- 
feated Papius  Mutilus,  the  Samnite  Consul,  and  followed  up  his 
victory  by  the  capture  of  the  strong  town  of  Boviannm. 

Meanwhile  Pompeius  Strabo  had  been  equally  successful  in  the 
north.  Asculum  was  reduced  after  a  long  and  obstinate  siege. 
The  Marrucinians,Vestinians,  Pelignians,  and  finally  the  Marsians, 
laid  down  their  arms  before  the  end  of  the  year.  Their  submis- 
sion was  facilitated  by  the  Lex  Plautia  Papiria,  proposed  by  the 
Tribunes  M.  Plautius  Silvanus  and  C.  Papirius  Carbo  (B.C.  89), 
which  completed  the  arrangements  of  the  Lex  Julia,  and  granted, 
in  fact,  every  thing  which  the  Allies  had  demanded  before  the  war. 
All  citizens  of  a  town  in  alliance  with  Rome  could  obtain,  by  this 
law,  the  Roman  franchise,  provided  they  were  at  the  time  resident 
in  Italy,  and  registered  their  names  with  the  Praetor  within  sixty 
days.* 

The  war  was  thus  virtually  brought  to  a  conclusion  within  two 
years,  but  300,000  men,  the  flower  of  Rome  and  Italy,  perished  in 
this  short  time.  The  only  nations  remaining  in  arms  were  the 
Samnites  and  Lncanians,  who  still  maintained  a  guerrilla  warfare 
in  their  mountains,  and  continued  to  keep  possession  of  the  strong 
fortress  of  Nola,  in  Campania,  from  which  all  the  efforts  of  Sulla 
failed  to  dislodge  them. 

It  now  remained  to  be  settled  in  what  way  the  new  citizens  were 
to  be  incorporated  in  the  Roman  state.  If  they  were  enrolled  in 
the  thirty-five  tribes,  they  would  outnumber  the  old  citizens.  It 
was  therefore  resolved  to  form  ten  new  tribes,  which  should  consist 
of  the  new  citizens  exclusively ;  but,  before  these  arrangements 
could  be  completed,  the  Civil  War  broke  out. 

*  A  law  of  the  Consul  Pompeius  bestowed  the  Latin  franchise  upon  all  the  cit- 
izens of  the  Gallic  towns  between  the  Po  and  the  Alps,  eo  that  they  now  entered 
into  the  same  relations  with  Rome  as  the  Latins  had  formerly  held. 


Terracina. 


CHAPTEE  XXVI. 

FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.       B.C.  88-86. 

ONE  reason  which  induced  the  Senate  to  bring  the  Social  War 
to  a  conclusion  was  the  necessity  of  attacking  Mithridates,  king  of 
Pontus,  one  of  the  ablest  monarchs  with  whom  Rome  ever  came 
into  contact.  The  origin  and  history  of  this  war  will  be  narrated 
in  the  following  chapter.  The  dispute  between  Marias  and  Sulla 
for  the  command  against  Mithridates  was  the  occasion  of  the  first 
Civil  War.  The  ability  which  Sulla  had  displayed  in  the  Social 
War,  and  his  well-known  attachment  to  the  Senatorial  party,  natu- 
rally marked  him  out  as  the  man  to  whom  this  important  dignity 
'was  to  be  granted.  He  was  accordingly  elected  Consul  for  the 
year  88  B.C.,  with  Q.  Pompeius  Rufus  as  his  colleague ;  and  he 
forthwith  received  the  command  of  the  Mithridatic  War.  But 
Marias  had  long  coveted  this  distinction ;  he  quitted  the  magnifi- 
cent villa  which  he  had  built  at  Misenum,  and  took  up  his  resi- 
dence at  Rome ;  and  in  order  to  show  that  neither  his  age  nor  his 
corpulency  had  destroyed  his  vigor,  he  repaired  daily  to  the  Cam- 


182  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXVt 

pus  Martins,  and  went  through  the  usual  exercises  with  the  young 
men.  He  was  determined  not  to  yield  without  a  struggle  to  his 
hated  rival.  As  he  had  formerly  employed  the  Tribune  Saturni- 
nus  to  carry  out  his  designs,  so  now  he  found  an  able  instrument 
for  his  purpose  in  the  Tribune  P.  Sulpicius  Rufus.  Sulpicius  was 
one  of  the  greatest  orators  of  the  age,  and  had  acquired  great  influ- 
ence by  his  splendid  talents.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  the 
Tribune  M.  Livius  Drusus,  and  had  been  himself  elected  Tribune 
for  B.C.  88,  through  the  influence  of  the  Senatorial  party,  who 
placed  great  hopes  in  him  ;  but,  being  overwhelmed  with  debt,  he 
now  sold  himself  to  Marius,  who  promised  him  a  liberal  share  of 
the  spoils  of  the  Mithridatic  War.  Accordingly,  Sulpicius  brought 
forward  a  law  by  which  the  Italians  were  to  be  distributed  among 
the  thirty-five  tribes.  As  they  far  outnumbered  the  old  Roman 
citizens,  they  would  have  an  overwhelming  majority  in  each  tribe, 
and  would  certainly  confer  upon  Marius  the  command  of  the  Mith- 
ridatic War.  To  prevent  the  Tribune  from  putting  these  roga- 
tions to  the  vote,  the  Consuls  declared  a  justitium,  during  which 
no  business  could  be  legally  transacted.  But  Sulpicius  was  re- 
solved to  carry  his  point ;  with  an  armed  band  of  followers  he  en- 
tered the  forum  and  called  upon  the  Consuls  to  withdraw  the  justi- 
tium ;  and  upon  their  refusal  to  comply  with  his  demand  he  order- 
ed his  satellites  to  draw  their  swords  and  fall  upon  them.  Pom- 
peius  escaped,  but  his  son  Quintus,  who  was  also  the  son-in-law  of 
Sulla,  was  killed.  Sulla  himself  took  refuge  in  the  house  of  Ma- 
rius, which  was  close  to  the  forum,  and  in  order  to  save  his  life  he 
was  obliged  to  remove  the  justitium. 

Sulla  quitted  Rome  and  hastened  to  his  army,  then  besieging 
Nola,  which  was  still  held  by  the  Samnites  (see  p.  1 80).  The  city 
was  now  in  the  hands  of  Sulpicius  and  Marius,  and  the  rogations 
passed  into  law  without  opposition,  as  well  as  a  third,  conferring 
upon  Marius  the  command  of  the  Mithridatic  War.  Marius  lost 
no  time  in  sending  some  Tribunes  to  assume  on  his  behalf  the 
command  of  the  army  at  Nola ;  but  the  soldiers,  who  loved  Sulla, 
and  who  feared  that  Marius  might  lead  another  army  to  Asia,  and 
thus  deprive  them  of  their  anticipated  plunder,  stoned  his  deputies 
to  death.  Sulla  found  his  soldiers  ready  to  respond  to  his  wishes; 
they  called  upon  him  to  lead  them  to  Rome,  and  deliver  the  city 
from  the  tyrants.  He  therefore  hesitated  no  longer,  but  at  the 
head  of  six  legions  broke  up  from  his  encampment  at  Nola,  and 
marched  toward  the  city.  His  officers,  however,  refused  to  serve 
against  their  country,  and  all  quitted  him,  with  the  exception  of 
one  Quaestor.  This  was  the  first  time  that  a  Roman  had  ever 
marched  at  the  head  of  Roman  troops  against  the  city.  Mariua 


B.C.  88-80.  FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  183 

was  taken  by  surprise.  Such  was  the  reverence  that  the  Romans 
entertained  for  law,  that  it  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  him 
or  to  his  party  that  Sulla  would  venture  to  draw  his  sword  against 
the  state.  Marius  attempted  to  gain  time  for  preparations  by  for- 
bidding Sulla,  in  the  name  of  the  Republic,  to  advance  any  far- 
ther ;  but  the  Praetors  who  carried  the  command  narrowly  escaped 
being  murdered  by  the  soldiers;  and  Marius,  as  a  last  resource, 
ottered  liberty  to  the  slaves  who  would  join  him.  But  it  was  all 
in  vain.  Sulla  forced  his  way  into  the  city,  and  Marius  took  to 
llight  with  his  son  and  a  few  followers.  Sulla  used  his  victory 
with  moderation.  He  protected  the  city  from  plunder ;  and  only 
Marius,  Sulpicius,  and  ten  others  of  his  bitterest  enemies,  were  de- 
clared public  enemies  by  the  Senate.  Sulpicius  was  betrayed  by 
one  of  his  slaves  and  put  to  death,  but  Marius  and  his  son  succeed- 
ed in  making  their  escape.  Marius  himself  embarked  on  board  a 
ship  at  (Jstia,  with  a  few  companions,  and  then  sailed  southward 
along  the  coast  of  Italy.  At  Circeii  he  and  his  companions  were 
obliged  to  land  on  account  of  the  violence  of  the  wind  and  the 
want  of  provisions.  After  wandering  about  for  a  long  time,  they 
learned  from  some  peasants  that  a  number  of  horsemen  had  been 
in  search  of  them ;  and  they  accordingly  turned  aside  from  the 
road,  and  passed  the  night  in  a  deep  wood  in  great  want.  But 
the  indomitable  spirit  of  the  old  man  did  not  fail  him  ;  and  he 
consoled  himself  and  encouraged  his  companions  by  the  assurance 
that  he  should  still  live  to  see  his  seventh  Consulship,  in  accord- 
ance with  a  prediction  that  had  been  made  to  him  in  his  youth. 
Shortly  aftenvard,  when  they  were  near  to  Minturnae,  they  de- 
scried a  party  of  horsemen  galloping  toward  them.  In  great  haste 
they  hurried  down  to  the  sea,  and  swam  off  to  two  merchant  ves- 
sels, which  received  them  on  board.  The  horsemen  bade  the  crew 
bring  the  ship  to  land  or  throw  Marius  overboard ;  but,  moved  by 
his  tears  and  entreaties,  they  refused  to  surrender  him.  The 
sailors  soon  changed  their  minds ;  and,  fearing  to  keep  Marius, 
they  cast  anchor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Liris,  where  they  persuaded 
him  to  disembark,  and  rest  himself  from  his  fatigues  till  a  wind 
should  rise ;  but  they  had  no  sooner  landed  him  than  they  imme- 
diately sailed  away.  Marius  was  now  quite  alone  amid  the  swamps 
and  marshes  through  which  the  Liris  flows.  With  difficulty  he 
readied  the  hut  of  an  old  man,  who  concealed  him  in  a  hole  near 
the  river,  and  covered  him  with  reeds ;  but  hearing  shortly  after- 
ward the  noise  of  his  pursuers,  he  crept  out  of  his  hiding-place  and 
threw  himself  into  the  marsh.  He  was  discovered,  and  dragged 
out  of  the  water ;  and,  covered  with  mud,  and  with  a  rope  round 
bis  neck,  was  delivered  up  to  tho  authorities  of  Minturnaj.  The 


184  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXVI. 

magistrates  then  deliberated  whether  they  should  comply  with  the 
instruction  that  had  been  sent  from  Home  to  all  the  municipal 
towns  to  put  Marius  to  death  as  soon  as  they  found  him.  After 
some  consultation  they  resolved  to  obey  it,  and  sent  a  Cimbrian 
slave  to  carry  out  their  orders.  The  room  in  which  the  old  gen- 
eral was  confined  was  dark^ajid,  to  the  frightened  barbarian,  the 
eyes  of  Marius  seemed  to  dart  forth  fire,  and  from  the  darkness  a 
terrible  voice  shouted  out,  "Man!  durst  thou  slay  C.  Marius?" 
The  barbarian  immediately  threw  down  his  sword,  and  rushed  out 
of  the  house,  exclaiming,  "I  can  not  kill  C.  Marius !"  Straight- 
way there  was  a  revulsion  of  feeling  among  the  inhabitants  of 
Minturnae.  They  repented  of  their  ungrateful  conduct  toward  a 
man  who  had  saved  Home  and  Italy.  They  got  ready  a  ship  for 
his  departure,  provided  him  with  every  thing  necessary  for  the 
voyage,  and,  with  prayers  and  wishes  for  his  safety,  placed  him  on 
board.  The  wind  carried  him  to  the  island  of  .^Enaria  (now  Is- 
chia),  where  he  found  the  rest  of  his  friends ;  and  from  thence  he 
set  sail  for  Africa,  which  he  reached  in  safety.  He  landed  near 
the  site  of  Carthage,  but  he  had  scarcely  put  his  foot  on  shore  be- 
fore the  Praetor  Sextilius  sent  an  officer  to  bid  him  leave  the  coun- 
try, or  else  he  would  carry  into  execution  the  decree  of  the  Senate. 
This  last  blow  almost  unmanned  Marius  :  grief  and  indignation 
for  a  time  deprived  him  of  speech,  and  his  only  reply  was,  "Tell 
the  Prajtor  that  you  have  seen  C.  Marius  a  fugitive  sitting  on  the 
ruins  of  Carthage."  Shortly  afterward  Marius  was  joined  by  his 
son,  and  they  crossed  over  to  the  island  of  Cercina,  where  they 
remained  unmolested. 

Meantime  a  revolution  had  taken  place  at  Rome,  which  prepared 
the  way  for  the  return  of  Marius  to  Italy.  Sulla's  soldiers  were 
impatient  for  the  plunder  of  Asia,  and  he  therefore  contented  him- 
self with  repealing  the  Sulpician  laws.  He  then  sent  forward  his 
legions  to  Capua,  that  they  might  be  ready  to  embark  for  Greece, 
but  he  himself  remained  in  Rome  till  the  Consuls  were  elected  for 
the  following  year.  The  candidates  whom  he  recommended  were 
rejected,  and  the  choice  fell  on  Cn.  Octavius,  who  belonged  to  the 
aristocratical  party,  but  was  a  weak  and  irresolute  man,  and  on  L. 
Cinna,  a  professed  champion  of  the  popular  side.  Sulla  did  not 
attempt  to  oppose  their  election :  to  have  recalled  his  legions  to 
Rome  would  have  been  a  dangerous  experiment  when  the  soldiers 
were  so  eager  for  the  spoils  of  the  East ;  and  he  only  took  the  vain 
precaution  of  making  Cinna  promise  that  he  would  make  no  at- 
tempt to  disturb  the  existing  order  of  things.  But  as  soon  as  Sulla 
had  quitted  Italy,  Cinna  brought  forward  again  the  law  of  Sulpic- 
ius  for  incorporating  the  new  Italian  citizens  among  the  thirty-five 


B.C.  8G.          MARIUS  AND  CINNA  CONSULS.  185 

tribes.  The  two  Consuls  had  recourse  to  arms,  Octavius  to  oppose 
and  China  to  carry  the  law.  A  dreadful  conflict  took  place  in  the 
forum.  The  party  of  Octavius  obtained  the  victory,  and  Cinna  was 
driven  out  of  the  city  with  great  slaughter.  But  Cinna,  by  means 
of  the  new  citizens,  whose  cause  he  espoused,  was  soon  at  the  head 
of  a  formidable  army.  As  soon  as  Marius  heard  of  these  changes 
he  set  sail  from  Africa,  and  offered  to  serve  under  Cinna,  who  glad- 
ly accepted  his  proposal,  and  named  him  Proconsul ;  but  Marius  re- 
fused all  marks  of  honor.  The  sufferings  and  privations  he  had 
endured  had  exasperated  his  proud  and  haughty  spirit  almost  to 
madness,  and  nothing  but  the  blood  of  his  enemies  could  appease 
his  resentment.  He  continued  to  wear  a  mean  and  humble  dress, 
and  his  hair  and  beard  had  remained  unshorn  from  the  day  he  had 
been  driven  out  of  Rome.  After  joining  Cinna,  Marius  prosecuted 
the  war  with  great  vigor.  He  first  captured  the  corn-ships,  and 
thus  cut  off  Rome  from  its  usual  supply  of  food.  He  next  took 
Ostia  and  the  other  towns  on  the  sea-coast,  and,  moving  down  the 
Tiber,  encamped  on  the  Janiculum.  Famine  began  to  rage  in  the 
city,  and  the  Senate  was  obliged  to  yield.  They  sent  a  deputation 
to  Cinna  and  Marius,  inviting  them  into  the  city,  but  entreating 
them  to  spare  the  citizens.  Cinna  received  the  deputies  sitting  in 
his  chair  of  office,  and  gave  them  a  kind  answer.  Marius  stood  in 
silence  by  the  side  of  the  Consul,  but  his  actions  spoke  louder  than 
words.  After  the  audience  was  over  they  entered  the  city.  The 
most  frightful  scenes  followed.  The  Consul  Octavius  was  slain 
while  seated  in  his  curule  chair.  The  streets  ran  with  the  noblest 
blood  of  Rome.  Every  one  whom  Marius  hated  or  feared  was  hunt- 
ed out  and  put  to  death  ;  and  no  consideration,  either  of  rank,  tal- 
ent, or  former  friendship,  induced  him  to  spare  the  victims  of  his 
vengeance.  The  great  orator  M.  Antonius  fell  by  the  hands  of  his 
assassins ;  and  his  former  colleague,  Q.  Catulus,  who  had  triumphed 
with  him  over  the  Cimbri,  was  obliged  to  put  an  end  to  his  own  life. 
Cinna  was  soon  tired  of  the  butchery  ;  but  the  appetite  of  Marius 
seemed  only  whetted  by  the  slaughter,  and  daily  required  fresh  vic- 
tims for  its  gratification.  Without  going  through  the  form  of  an 
election,  Marius  and  Cinna  named  themselves  Consuls  for  the  fol- 
lowing year  (B.C.  86),  and  thus  was  fulfilled  the  prediction  that  Ma- 
rius should  be  seven  times  Consul.  But  he  did  not  long  enjoy  the 
honor :  he  was  now  in  his  seventy-first  year ;  his  body  was  worn 
out  by  the  fatigues  and  sufferings  he  had  recently  undergone ;  and 
on  the  eighteenth  day  of  his  Consulship  he  died  of  an  attack  of 
pleurisy,  after  a  few  days'  illness. 


Mount  Argaeus  in  Cappadocia. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

FIRST   MITHRIDATIC    WAR.       B.C.  88-84. 

THE  kingdom  of  Pontus,  which  derived  its  name  from  being  on 
the  coast  of  the  Pontus  Euxinus,  or  Black  Sea,  was  originally  a  sa- 
trapy of  the  Persian  empire,  extending  from  the  River  Halys  on 
the  west  to  the  frontiers  of  Colchis  on  the  east.  Even  under  the 
later  Persian  kings  the  rulers  of  Pontus  were  really  independent, 
and  in  the  wars  of  the  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great  it  be- 
came a  separate  kingdom.  Most  of  its  kings  bore  the  name  of 
Mithridates ;  and  the  fifth  monarch  of  this  name  formed  an  alli- 
ance with  the  Romans,  and  was  rewarded  with  the  province  of 
Phrygia  for  the  services  he  had  rendered  them  in  the  war  against 
Aristonicus.  He  was  assassinated  about  B.C.  120,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Mithridates  VI. ,  commonly  called  the  Great, 
who  was  then  only  about  twelve  years  of  .age.  His  youth  was  re- 
markable, but  much  that  has  been  transmitted  to  us  respecting  this 
period  of  his  life  weans  a  very  suspicious  aspect ;  it  is  certain,  how- 


B.C.  88-84.        FIRST  MITI11UDATIC  WAR.  187 

ever,  that  when  he  attained  to  manhood  he  was  not  only  endowed 
with  consummate  skill  in  all  martial  exercises,  and  possessed  of  a 
bodily  frame  inured  to  all  hardships,  but  his  naturally  vigorous  in- 
tellect had  been  improved  by  careful  culture.  As  a  boy  he  had 
been  brought  up  at  Sinopc,  where  he  had  probably  received  the  el- 
ements of  a  Greek  education,  and  so  powerful  was  his  memory  that 
he  is  said  to  have  learned  not  less  than  twenty-five  languages,  and 
to  have  been  able  in  the  days  of  his  greatest  power  to  transact  busi- 
ness with  the  deputies  of  every  tribe  subject  to  his  rule  in  their  own 
peculiar  dialect.  As  soon  as  he  was  firmly  established  on  the 
throne  he  began  to  turn  his  arms  against  the  neighboring  nations. 
On  the  west  his  progress  was  hemmed  in  by  the  power  of  Rome, 
and  the  minor  sovereigns  of  Bithynia  and  Cappadocia  enjoyed  the 
all-powerful  protection  of  the  Republic.  But  on  the  east  his  am- 
bition found  free  scope.  He  subdued  the  barbarian  tribes  between 
the  Euxine  and  the  confines  of  Armenia,  including  the  whole  of 
Colchis  and  the  province  called  Lesser  Armenia ;  and  he  even 
added  to  his  dominions  the  Tauric  Chersonesus,  now  called  the 
Crimea.  The  Greek  kingdom  of  Bosphorus,  which  formed  a  por- 
tion of  the  Chersonesus,  likewise  submitted  to  his  sway.  More- 
over, he  formed  alliances  with  Tigranes,  king  of  Armenia,  to  whom 
he  gave  his  daughter  Cleopatra  in  marriage,  as  well  as  with  the 
warlike  nations  of  the  Parthians  and  Iberians.  He  thus  found 
himself  in  possession  of  such  great  power  and  extensive  resources, 
that  he  began  to  deem  himself  equal  to  a  contest  with  Rome  it- 
self. Many  causes  of  dissension  had  already  arisen  between  them. 
Shortly  after  his  accession,  the  Romans  had  taken  advantage  of  his 
minority  to  wrest  from  him  the  province  of  Phrygia.  In  B.C.  93 
they  resisted  his  attempt  to  place  upon  the  throne  of  Cappadocia 
one  of  his  own  nephews,  and  appointed  a  Cappadocian  named  Ari- 
obarzanes  to  be  king  of  that  country.  For  a  time  Mithridates  sub- 
mitted ;  but  the  death  of  Nicomedes  II.,  king  of  Bithynia,  shortly 
afterward,  at  length  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  That  monarch 
was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Nicomedes  III. ;  but  Mithridates 
took  the  opportunity  to  set  up  a  rival  claimant,  whose  pretensions 
he  supported  with  an  army,  and  quickly  drove  Nicomedes  out  of 
Bithynia  (B.C.  90).  About  the  same  time  he  openly  invaded  Cap- 
padocia, and  expelled  Ariobarzanes  from  his  kingdom,  establishing 
his  own  son  Ariarathes  in  his  place.  Both  the  fugitive  princes  had 
recourse  to  Rome,  where  they  found  ready  support ;  a  decree  was 
passed  that  Nicomedes  and  Ariobarzanes  should  be  restored  to  their 
respective  kingdoms,  and  the  execution  of  it  was  confided  to  M'. 
Aquillius  and  L.  Cassius. 

Mithridates  again  yielded,  and  the  two  fugitive  kings  were  re- 


188  HISTORY  OF  EOME.          CHAP.  XX VII. 

stored  to  their  dominions  ;  but  no  sooner  was  Nicomedes  replaced 
on  the  throne  of  Bithynia  than  he  was  urged  by  the  Roman  legates 
to  invade  the  territories  of  Mithridates,  into  which  he  made  a  pred- 
atory incursion.  Mithridates  offered  no  resistance,  but  sent  to  tho 
Romans  to  demand  satisfaction,  and  it  was  not  until  his  embassador 
was  dismissed  with  an  evasive  answer  that  he  prepared  for  imme- 
diate hostilities  (B.C.  88).  His  first  step  was  to  invade  Cappado- 
lia,  from  which  he  easily  expelled  Ariobarzanes  once  more.  His 
generals  drove  Nicomedes  out  of  Bithynia,  and  defeated  Aquillius. 
Mithridates,  following  up  his  advantage,  not  only  made  himself 
master  of  Phrygia  and  Galatia,  but  invaded  the  Roman  province 
of  Asia.  Here  the  universal  discontent  of  the  inhabitants,  caused 
by  the  oppression  of  the  Roman  governors,  enabled  him  to  overrun 
the  whole  province  almost  without  opposition.  The  Roman  offi- 
cers, who  had  imprudently  brought  this  danger  upon  themselves, 
were  unable  to  collect  any  forces  to  oppose  his  progress ;  and  Aquil- 
lius himself,  the  chief  author  of  the  war,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
King  of  Pontus.  Mithridates  took  up  his  winter  quarters  at  Per- 
gamus,  where  he  issued  the  sanguinary  order  to  all  the  cities  of 
Asia  to  put  to  death  on  the  same  day  all  the  Roman  and  Italian 
citizens  who  were  to  be  found  within  their  walls.  So  hateful  had 
the  Romans  rendered  themselves  during  the  short  period  of  their 
dominion,  that  these  commands  were  obeyed  with  alacrity  by  al- 
most all  the  cities  of  Asia.  Eighty  thousand  persons  are  said  to 
have  perished  in  this  fearful  massacre. 

The  success  of  Mithridates  encouraged  the  Athenians  to  declare 
against  Rome,  and  the  king  accordingly  sent  his  general  Arche- 
laus  with  a  large  army  and  fleet  into  Greece.  Most  of  the  Gre- 
cian states  now  declared  in  favor  of  Mithridates.  Such  was  the 
position  of  affairs  when  Sulla  landed  in  Epirus  in  B.C.  87.  He  im- 
mediately marched  southward,  and  laid  siege  to  Athens  and  the 
Piraeus.  But  for  many  months  these  towns  resisted  all  his  attacks. 
Athens  was  first  taken  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year ;  and  Ar- 
chelaus,  despairing  of  defending  the  Piraeus  any  longer,  withdrew 
into  Boeotia,  where  he  received  some  powerful  re-enforcements 
from  Mithridates.  Pirasus  now  fell  into  the  hands  of  Sulla,  and 
both  this  place  and  Athens  were  treated  with  the  utmost  barbarity. 
The  soldiers  were  indulged  in  indiscriminate  slaughter  and  plun- 
der. Having  thus  wreaked  his  vengeance  upon  the  unfortunate 
Athenians,  Sulla  directed  his  arms  against  Archelaus  in  Bo30tia, 
and  defeated  him  with  enormous  loss  at  Chajronea.  Out  of  the 
110,000  men  of  which  the  Pontic  army  consisted,  Archelaus  assem- 
bled only  10,000  at  Chalcis,  in  Eubcea,  where  he  had  taken  refuge. 
Mithridates,  on  receiving  news  of  this  great  disaster,  immediately 


B.C.  88-84.        FIRST  MITHRIDATIC  WAR.  189 

set  about  raising  fresh  troops,  and  was  soon  able  to  send  another 
array  of  80,000  men  to  Eubrca.  But  he  now  found  himself  threat- 
ened with  danger  from  a  new  and  unexpected  quarter.  Wl.ile  Sul- 
la was  still  occupied  in  Greece,  the  party  of  Marius  at  Rome  had 
sent  a  fresh  army  to  Asia  under  the  Consul  L.Valerius  Flaccus  to 
carry  on  the  war  at  once  against  their  foreign  and  domestic  ene- 
mies. Flaccus  was  murdered  by  his  troops  at  the  instigation  of 
Fimbria,  who  now  assumed  the  command,  and  gained  several  vic- 
tories over  Mithridates  and  his  generals  in  Asia  (B.C.  85).  About 
the  same  time  the  new  army,  which  the  king  had  sent  to  Arche- 
laus  in  Greece,  was  defeated  by  Sulla  in  the  neighboihood  of  Or- 
chomenus.  These  repeated  disasters  made  Mithridates  anxious 
for  peace,  but  it  was  not  granted  by  Sulla  till  the  following  year 
(B.C.  84),  when  he  had  crossed  the  Hellespont  in  order  to  carry  on 
the  war  in  Asia.  The  terms  of  peace  were  definitely  settled  at  an 
interview  which  the  Roman  general  and  the  Pontic  king  had  at 
Dardanus,  in  the  Troad.  Mithridates  consented  to  abandon  all  his 
conquests  in  Asia,  to  restrict  himself  to  the  dominions  which  he 
held  before  the  commencement  of  the  war,  or  pay  a  sum  of  2000 
talents,  and  surrender  to  the  Romans  a  fleet  of  seventy  ships  fully 
equipped.  Thus  terminated  the  First  Mithridatic  War. 

Sulla  was  now  at  liberty  to  turn  his  arms  against  Fimbria,  who 
was  with  his  army  at  Thyatira.  The  name  of  Sulla  carried  vic- 
tory with  it.  The  troops  of  Fimbria  deserted  their  general,  who 
put  an  end  to  his  own  life.  Sulla  now  prepared  to  return  to  Italy. 
After  exacting  enormous  sums  from  the  wealthy  cities  of  Asia,  he 
left  his  legate,  L.  Licinius  Murena,  in  command  of  that  province, 
with  two  legions,  and  set  sail  with  his  own  army  to  Athens.  While 
preparing  for  his  deadly  struggle  in  Italy,  he  did  not  lose  his  inter- 
est in  literature.  He  carried  with  him  from  Athens  to  Rome  the 
valuable  library  of  Apellicon  of  Teos,  which  contained  most  of  the 
works  of  Aristotle  and  Theophrastus. 


Coin  of  Xicotnedes  III.,  king  of  Bithynia. 


Brundusium. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

civil,  WAR. — SULLA'S  DICTATORSHIP,  LEGISLATION,  AND 
DEATH.     B.C.  83-78. 

SULLA  landed  at  Brundusium  in  the  spring  of  B.C.  83,  in  the 
Consulship  of  L.  Scipio  and  C.  Norbanus.  During  the  preceding 
year  he  had  written  to  the  Senate,  recounting  the  services  he  had 
rendered  to  the  commonwealth,  complaining  of  the  ingratitude 
wiih  which  he  had  been  treated,  announcing  his  speedy  return  to 
Italy,  and  threatening  to  take  vengeance  upon  his  enemies  and 
those  of  the  Republic.  The  Senate,  in  alarm,  sent  an  embassy  to 
Sulla  to  endeavor  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  between  him  and 
his  enemies,  and  meantime  ordered  the  Consuls  Cinna  and  Carbo 
to  desist  from  levying  troops  and  making  farther  preparations  for 
war.  Cinna  and  Carbo  gave  no  heed  to  this  command ;  they  knew 
that  a  reconciliation  was  impossible,  and  resolved  to  cany  over  an 
army  to  Dalmatia,  in  order  to  oppose  Sulla  in  Greece ;  but,  after 
one  detachment  of  their  troops  had  embarked,  the  rest  of  the  sol- 
diers rose  in  mutiny,  and  murdered  Cinna.  The  Marian  party  had 
thus  lost  their  chief  leader,  but  continued  nevertheless  to  make 


B.C.  83.  SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  191 

every  preparation  to  resist  Sulla,  for  they  were  well  aware  that  ho 
would  never  forgive  them,  and  that  their  only  choice  lay  between 
victory  and  destruction.  Besides  this  the  Italians  were  ready  to 
support  them,  as  these  new  citizens  feared  that  Sulla  would  de- 
prive them  of  the  rights  which  they  had  lately  obtained  after  so 
much  bloodshed.  The  Marian  party  had  every  prospect  of  victory, 
for  their  troops  far  exceeded  those  of  their  opponent.  They  had 
200,000  men  in  arms,  while  Sulla  landed  at  Brundusium  with  only 
30,000,  or  at  the  most  40,000  men.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
popular  party  had  no  one  of  sufficient  influence  and  military  repu- 
tation to  take  the  supreme  command  in  the  war ;  their  vast  forces 
were  scattered  about  Italy,  in  different  armies,  under  different  gen- 
erals ;  the  soldiers  had  no  confidence  in  their  commanders,  and 
no  enthusiasm  in  their  cause ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  whole 
hosts  of  them  deserted  to  Sulla  on  the  first  opportunity.  Sulla's 
soldiers,  on  the  contrary,  were  veterans,  who  had  frequently  fought 
by  each  other's  sides,  and  had  acquired  that  confidence  in  them- 
selves and  in  their  general  which  frequent  victories  always  give. 
Still,  if  the  Italians  had  remained  faithful  to  the  cause  of  the  Ma- 
rian party,  Sulla  would  hardly  have  conquered,  and  therefore  one 
of  his  first  cares  after  landing  at  Brundusium  was  to  detach  them 
from  his  enemies.  For  this  purpose  he  would  not  allow  his  troops 
to  do  any  injury  to  the  towns  or  fields  of  the  Italians  in  his  march 
from  Brundusium  through  Calabria  and  Apulia,  and  he  formed 
separate  treaties  with  many  of  the  Italian  towns,  by  which  he  se- 
cured to  them  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  Roman  citizens  which 
they  then  enjoyed.  Among  the  Italians  the  Samnites  continued 
to  be  the  most  formidable  enemies  of  Sulla.  They  had  joined  the 
Marian  party,  not  simply  with  the  design  of  securing  the  suprem- 
acy for  the  latter,  but  with  the  hope  of  conquering  Rome  by  their 
means,  and  then  destroying  forever  their  hated  oppressor.  Thus 
this  Civil  war  became  merely  another  phase  of  the  Social  war,  and 
the  struggle  between  Rome  and  Samnium  for  the  supremacy  of 
the  peninsula  was  renewed  after  the  subjection  of  the  latter  for 
more  than  two  hundred  years. 

Sulla  marched  from  Apulia  into  Campania  without  meeting  with 
any  resistance.  In  Campania  he  gained  his  first  victory  over  the 
Consul  Norbanus,  who  was  defeated  with  great  loss,  and  obliged 
to  take  refuge  in  Capua.  His  colleague  Scipio,  who  was  at  no 
great  distance,  willingly  accepted  a  truce  which  Sulla  offered  him, 
although  Sertorius,  the  ablest  of  the  Marian  generals,  warned  him 
against  entering  into  any  negotiations.  His  caution  was  justified 
by  the  event.  By  means  of  his  emissaries  Sulla  seduced  the  troops 
of  Scipio,  who  at  length  found  himself  deserted  by  all  his  soldiers, 


192  HISTORY  OF  ROME.          CHAI-.  XXVIII. 

and  was  taken  prisoner  in  his  tent.  Sulla,  however,  dismissed  him 
uninjured.  On  hearing  of  this,  Carbo  is  said  to  have  observed  "that 
he  had  to  contend  in  Sulla  both  with  a  lion  and  a  fox,  but  that  the 
fox  gave  him  more  trouble."  Many  distinguished  Romans  mean- 
time had  taken  up  arms  on  behalf  of  Sulla.  Cn.  Pompey,  the  son 
of  Cn.Pompeius  Strabo,  then  only  twenty-three  years  of  age,  levied 
three  legions  in  Ficenum  and  the  surrounding  districts ;  and  Q. 
Metellus  Pius,  M.  Crassus,  M.  Lucullus,  and  several  others,  offered 
•their  services  as  legates.  It  was  not,  however,  till  the  following 
year  (B.C.  82)  that  the  struggle  was  brought  to  a  decisive  issue. 
The  Consuls  of  this  year  were  Cn.  Papirius  Carbo  and  the  younger 
Marius,  the  former  of  whom  was  intnisted  with  the  protection  of 
Etruria  and  Umbria,  while  the  latter  had  to  guard  Rome  and  La- 
tium.  Sulla  appears  to  have  passed  the  winter  at  Campania.  At 
the  commencement  of  spring  he  advanced  against  the  younger 
Marius,  who  had  concentrated  all  his  forces  at  Sacrip'ortus,  and 
defeated  him  with  great  loss.  Marius  took  refuge  in  Praeneste; 
and  Sulla,  after  leaving  Q.  Lucretius  Ofella  with  a  large  force  to 
blockade  the  town,  marched  with  the  main  body  of  his  army  to 
Rome.  Marius  was  resolved  not  to  perish  unavenged,  and  accord- 
ingly, before  Sulla  could  reach  Rome,  he  sent  orders  to  L.  Dama- 
sippus,  the  Praetor,  to  put  to  death  all  his  leading  opponents.  His 
orders  were  faithfully  obeyed.  Q.  Mucius  Scaevola,  the  Pontifex 
Maximus  and  jurist,  P.  Antistius,  L.  Domitius,  and  many  other  dis- 
tinguished men,  were  butchered,  and  their  corpses  thrown  into  the 
Tiber.  Sulla  entered  the  city  without  opposition,  and  marched 
against  Carbo,  who  had  been  previously  opposed  by  Pompey  and 
Metellus.  The  history  of  this  part  of  the  war  is  involved  in  great 
obscurity.  Carbo  made  two  efforts  to  relieve  Przeneste,  but  failed 
in  each  ;  and,  after  fighting  with  various  fortune  against  Pompey, 
Metellus,  and  Sulla,  he  at  length  embarked  for  Africa,  despairing 
of  farther  success  in  Italy.  Meantime  Rome  had  nearly  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  Samnites  and  Lucanians,  under 
Pontius  Tclesinus  and  L.  Lamponius,  after  attempting  to  relieve 
Praeneste,  resolved  to  march  straight  upon  Rome,  which  had  been 
left  without  an  army  for  its  protection.  Snlla  arrived  barely  in 
time  to  save  the  city.  The  battle  was  fought  before  the  Colline 
Gate ;  it  was  long  and  obstinately  contested ;  the  combat  was  not 
simply  for  the  supremacy  of  a  party ;  the  very  existence  of  Rome 
wa*  at  stake,  for  Pontius  had  declared  that  he  would  raze  the  city 
to  the  ground.  The  left  wing,  where  Sulla  commanded  in  person, 
was  driven  off  the  field  by  the  vehemence  of  the  enemy's  charge; 
but  the  success  of  the  right  wing,  which  was  commanded  by  Cras- 
sus, enabled  Sulla  to  restore  the  battle,  and  at  length  gain  a  com- 


B.C.  81.  SULLA'S  DICTATORSHIP.  193 

plete  victory.  Fifty  thousand  men  arc  said  to  have  fallen  on  each 
side.  All  the  most  distinguished  leader.*  of  the  Marian  party  ei- 
ther perished  in  the  engagement,  or  were  taken  prisoners  and  put 
to  death.  Among  these  was  the  brave  Samnite  Pontius,  whose 
head  was  cut  off  and  carried  under  the  walls  of  Prajneste,  thereby 
announcing  to  the  young  Marius  that  his  last  hope  of  succour  was 
gone.  To  the  Samnite  prisoners  Sulla  showed  no  mercy.  He 
was  resolved  to  root  out  of  the  peninsula  those  heroic  enemies  of 
Rome.  On  the  third  day  after  the  battle  he  collected  all  the  Sam- 
nite and  Lucanian  prisoners  in  the  Campus  Martius,  and  ordered 
his  soldiers  to  cut  them  down.  The  dying  shrieks  of  so  many  vic- 
tims frightened  the  Senators,  who  had  been  assembled  at  the  same 
time  by  Sulla  in  the  temple  of  Bellona ;  but  he  bade  them  attend 
to  what  he  was  saying,  and  not  mind  what  was  taking  place  outside, 
as  he  was  only  chastising  some  rebels.  Procneste  surrendered  soon 
afterward.  The  Romans  in  the  town  were  pardoned ;  but  all  the 
Samnites  and  Pnenestines  were  massacred  without  mercy.  The 
younger  Marius  put  an  end  to  his  own  life.  The  war  in  Italy  was 
now  virtually  at  an  end,  for  the  few  towns  which  still  held  out  had 
no  prospect  of  offering  any  effectual  opposition,  and  were  reduced 
soon  afterward.  In  other  parts  of  the  Roman  world  the  war  con- 
tinued still  longer,  and  Sulla  did  not  live  to  see  its  completion. 
The  armies  of  the  Marian  party  in  Sicily  and  Africa  were  subdued 
by  Pompey  in  the  course  of  the  same  year ;  but  Sertorius  in  Spain 
continued  to  defy  all  the  attempts  of  the  Senate  till  B.C.  72. 

Sulla  was  now  master  of  Rome.  He  had  not  commenced  the 
Civil  war,  but  had  been  driven  to  it  by  the  mad  ambition- of  Ma- 
rius. His  enemies  had  attempted  to  deprive  him  of  the  command 
in  the  Mithridatic  war,  which  had  been  legally  conferred  upon  him 
by  the  Senate  ;  and  while  he  was  fighting  the  battles  of  the  Repub- 
lic they  had  declared  him  a  public  enemy,  confiscated  his  property, 
and  murdered  the  most  distinguished  of  his  friends  and  adherents. 
For  all  these  wrongs  Sulla  had  threatened  to  take  the  most  ample 
vengeance ;  and  he  more  than  redeemed  his  word.  He  resolved  to 
extirpate  the  popular  party  root  and  branch.  One  of  his  first  acts 
was  to  draw  up  a  list  of  his  enemies  who  were  to  be  put  to  death, 
which  list  was  exhibited  in  the  forum  to  public  inspection,  and 
called  a  Proscriptio.  It  was  the  first  instance  of  the  kind  in  Ro- 
man history.  All  persons  in  this  list  were  outlaws  who  might  be 
killed  by  any  one  with  impunity ;  their  property  was  confiscated 
to  the  state ;  their  children  and  grandchildren  lost  their  votes  in 
the  comitia,  and  were  excluded  from  all  public  offices.  Farther, 
nil  who  killed  a  proscribed  person,  or  indicated  the  place  of  his  con- 
:e;:lment,  received  two  talents  as  a  reward,  and  whoever  sheltered 

N 


194  HISTORY  OF  ROME.         CiiAP.XXVIIL 

such  a  person  was  punished  with  death.  Terror  now  reigned  not 
only  at  Rome,  but  throughout  Italy.  Fresh  lists  of  the  proscribed 
constantly  appeared.  No  one  was  safe ;  for  Sulla  gratified  his 
friends  by  placing  in  the  fatal  lists  their  personal  enemies,  or  per- 
sons whose  property  was  coveted  by  his  adherents.  An  estate,  a 
house,  or  even  a  piece  of  plate,  was  to  many  a  man,  who  belonged 
to  no  political  party,  his  death-warrant ;  for,  although  the  confis- 
cated property  belonged  to  the  state,  and  had  to  be  sold  by  public 
auction,  the  friends  and  dependents  of  Sulla  purchased  it  at  a  nom- 
inal price,  as  no  one  dared  to  bid  against  them.  Oftentimes  Sul- 
la did  not  require  the  purchase-money  to  be  paid  at  all,  and  in 
many  cases  he  gave  such  property  to  his  favorites  without  even  the 
formality  of  a  sale.  The  number  of  persons  who  perished  by  the 
proscriptions  amounted  to  many  thousands  At  the  commence- 
ment of  these  horrors  Sulla  had  been  appointed  Dictator.  As  both 
the  Consuls  had  perished,  he  caused  the  Senate  to  elect  Valerius 
Flaccus  interrex,  and  the  latter  brought  before  the  people  a  rogatio, 
conferring  the  Dictatorship  upon  Sulla,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring 
order  to  the  Republic,  and  for  as  long  a  time  as  he  judged  to  be 
necessary.  Thus  the  Dictatorship  was  revived  after  being  in  abey- 
ance for  more  than  120  years,  and  Sulla  obtained  absolute  power 
over  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  all  the  citizens.  This  was  toward 
the  close  of  B.C.  81.  Sulla's  great  object  in  being  invested  with 
the  Dictatorship  was  to  carry  into  execution  in  a  legal  manner  the 
great  reforms  which  he  meditated  in  the  constitution  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  by  which  he  hoped  to  place  the  government 
of  the  Republic  on  a  firm  and  secure  basis.  He  had  no  intention 
of  abolishing  the  Republic,  and  consequently  he  caused  Consuls  to 
be  elected  for  the  following  year,  B.C.  81,  and  was  elected  to  the 
office  himself  in  B.C.  80,  while  he  continued  to  hold  the  Dictator- 
ship. 

At  the  beginning  of  B.C.  81  Sulla  celebrated  a  splendid  triumph 
on  account  of  his  victory  over  Mithridates.  In  a  speech  which  he 
delivered  to  the  people  at  the  close  of  the  gorgeous  ceremony,  he 
claimed  for  himself  the  surname  of  Felix,  as  he  attributed  his  suc- 
cess in  life  to  the  favor  of  the  gods.  All  ranks  in  Rome  bowed  in 
awe  before  their  master;  and  among  other  marks  of  distinction 
which  were  voted  to  him  by  the  obsequious  Senate,  a  gilt  eques- 
trian statue  was  erected  to  his  honor  before  the  Rostra,  bearing  the 
inscription  "Cornelio  Sulla;  Imperatori  Felici." 

During  the  years  B.C.  80  and  79  Sulla  carried  into  execution  his 
various  reforms  in  the  constitution,  of  which  an  account  is  given 
at  tlie  end  of  this  chapter.  At  the  same  time  he  established  many 
military  colonies  throughout  Italy.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Italian 


B.C.  80-79.  SULLA'S  REFORMS.  11*5 

towns  which  had  fought  against  Sulla  were  deprived  of  the  full  Ro- 
man franchise  which  had  been  lately  conferred  upon  them ;  their 
lands  were  confiscated  and  given  to  the  soldiers  who  had  fought 
under  him.  A  great  number  of  these  colonies  were  settled  in 
Etruria.  They  had  the  strongest  interest  in  upholding  the  institu- 
tions of  Sulla,  since  any  attempt  to  invalidate  the  latter  would  have 
endangered  their  newly-acquired  possessions.  But,  though  they 
.vcre  a  support  to  the  power  of  Sulla,  they  hastened  the  fall  of  the 
commonwealth ;  an  idle  and  licentious  soldiery  supplanted  an  in- 
dustrious agricultural  population ;  and  Catiline  found  nowhere  more 
adherents  than  among  the  military  colonies  of  Sulla.  While  Sulla 
thus  established  throughout  Italy  a  population  devoted  to  his  inter- 
ests, he  created  at  Rome  a  kind  of  body-guard  for  his  protection  by 
giving  the  citizenship  to  a  great  number  of  slaves  belonging  to  those 
who  had  been  proscribed  by  him.  The  slaves  thus  rewarded  are 
said  to  have  been  as  many  as  10,000,  and  were  called  Cornelii  after 
him  as  their  patron. 

Sulla  had  completed  his  reforms  by  the  beginning  of  B.C.  79 ; 
and  as  he  longed  for  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  his  pleasures, 
he  resigned  his  Dictatorship,  and  declared  himself  ready  to  render 
an  account  of  his  conduct  while  in  office.  This  voluntary  abdica- 
tion by  Sulla  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  Roman  world  has  excited  the 
astonishment  and  admiration  of  both  ancient  and  modern  writers. 
But  it  is  evident  that  Sulla  never  contemplated,  like  Julius  Caesar, 
the  establishment  of  a  monarchical  form  of  government;  and  it 
must  be  recollected  that  he  could  retire  into  a  private  station  with- 
out any  fear  that  attempts  would  be  made  against  his  life  or  his  in- 
stitutions. The  ten  thousand  Cornelii  at  Rome  and  his  veterans 
stationed  throughout  Italy,  as  well  as  the  whole  strength  of  the 
aristocratical  party,  secured  him  against  all  danger.  Even  in  his 
retirement  his  will  was  law,  and  shortly  before  his  death  he  order- 
ed his  slaves  to  strangle  a  magistrate  of  one  of  the  towns  in  Italy 
because  he  was  a  public  defaulter. 

After  resigning  his  Dictatorship,  Sulla  retired  to  his  estate  at 
Puteoli,  and  there,  surrounded  by  the  beauties  of  nature  and  art, 
he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  those  literary  and  sensual 
enjoyments  in  which  he  had  always  taken  so  much  pleasure.  He 
died  in  B.C.  78,  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age.  The  immediate  cause 
of  his  death  was  the  rupture  of  a  blood-vessel,  but  some  time  before 
he  had  been  suffering  from  the  disgusting  disease  which  is  known 
in  modern  times  by  the  name  of  Morbus  Pediculosus.  The  Sen- 
ate, faithful  to  the  last,  resolved  to  give  him  the  honor  of  a  public 
funeral.  This  was,  however,  opposed  by  the  Consul  Lepidus,  who 
had  resolvnd  to  attempt  the  repeal  of  Sulla's  laws ;  but  the  Dicta- 


1'JG  IIIbTORY  OF  ROME.         CHAP.  XX VII L 

tor's  power  continued  unshaken  even  after  his  death.  The  veter- 
ans were  summoned  from  their  colonies,  and  Q.  Catulus,  L.  Lucul- 
1ns,  and  Cn.  Pompey  placed  themselves  at  their  head.  Lepidus  was 
obliged  to  give  way,  and  allowed  the  funeral  to  take  place  without 
interruption.  It  was  a  gorgeous  pageant.  The  Magistrates,  the 
Senate,  the  Equites,  the  Priests,  and  the  Vestal  virgins,  as  well  as 
the  veterans,  accompanied  the  funeral  procession  to  the  Campus 
Martius,  where  the  corpse  was  burnt  according  to  the  wish  of  Sulla 
himself,  who  feared  that  his  enemies  might  insult  his  remains,  as 
he  had  done  those  of  Marius,  which  had  been  taken  out  of  the  grave 
and  thrown  into  the  Anio  at  his  command.  It  had  been  previously 
the  custom  of  the  Cornelia  gens  to  bury  and  not  burn  their  dead. 
A  monument  was  erected  to  Sulla  in  the  Campus  Martius,  the  in- 
scription on  which  he  is  said  to  have  composed  himself.  It  stated 
that  none  of  his  friends  ever  did  him  a  kindness,  and  none  of  his 
enemies  a  wrong,  without  being  fully  repaid. 

All  the  reforms  of  Sulla  were  effected  by  means  of  Leges,  which 
were  proposed  by  him  in  the  Comitia  Centuriata,  and  bore  the  gen- 
eral name  of  Leges  Cornelia?.  They  may  be  divided  into  four  class- 
es :  laws  relating  to  the  constitution,  to  the  ecclesiastical  corpora- 
tions, to  the  administration  of  justice,  and  to  the  improvement  of 
public  morals.  Their  general  object  and  design  was  to  restore,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  ancient  Roman  Constitution,  and  to  give  again 
to  the  Senate  and  the  Nobility  that  power  of  which  they  had  been 
gradually  deprived  by  the  leaders  of  the  popular  party.  His  Con- 
stitution did  not  last,  because  the  aristocracy  were  thoroughly  self- 
ish and  corrupt,  and  exercised  the  power  which  Sulla  had  intrusted 
to  them  only  for  their  own  aggrandizement.  Their  shameless  con- 
duct soon  disgusted  the  provinces  as  well  as  the  capital ;  the  peo- 
ple again  regained  their  power,  but  the  consequence  was  an  anarchy 
and  not  a  government ;  and  as  neither  class  was  fit  to  rule,  they 
were  obliged  to  submit  to  the  dominion  of  a  single  man.  Thus 
the  empire  became  a  necessity  to  the  exhausted  Roman  world. 

I.  Laics  relating  io  the  Constitution. — Sulla  deprived  the  Comi- 
tia Tributa  of  their  legislative  and  judicial  powers ;  but  he  allowed 
them  to  elect  the  Tribunes,  JEdiles,  Qurestors,  and  other  inferior 
magistrates.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  only  purpose  for  which 
they  were  called  together.  The  Comitia  Centuriata,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  allowed  to  retain  their  right  of  legislation  unimpaired. 
He  restored,  however,  the  ancient  regulation,  which  had  fallen  into 
desuetude,  that  no  matter  should  be  brought  before  them  without 
tlie  previous  sanction  of  a  senatns  consultum. 


B.C.  80-79.  SULLA'S  LEGISLATION.  197 

The  Senate  had  been  so  much  reduced  in  numbers  by  the  pro- 
scriptions of  Sulla,  that  he  was  obliged  to  fill  up  the  vacancies  by 
the  election  of  three  hundred  new  members.  But  he  made  no  al- 
teration in  their  duties  and  functions,  as  the  whole  administration 
of  the  state  was  in  their  hands ;  and  he  gave  them  the  initiative 
in  legislation  by  requiring  a  previous  senatus  consultum  respecting 
all  measures  that  were  to  be  submitted  to  the  Comitia,  as  already 
stated. 

With  respect  to  the  magistrates,  Sulla  increased  the  number  of 
Quaestors  from  eight  to  twenty,  and  of  Praetors  from  six  to  eight. 
He  renewed  the  old  law  that  no  one  should  hold  the  Pratorship  be- 
fore he  had  been  Qua:stor,  nor  the  Consulship  before  he  had  been 
Praetor.  He  also  renewed  the  law  that  no  one  should  be  elected 
to  the  same  magistracy  till  after  the  expiration  of  ten  years. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  Sulla's  reforms  related  to  the  Trib- 
unate, which  he  deprived  of  all  real  power.  He  took  away  from 
the  Tribunes  the  right  of  proposing  a  rogation  of  any  kind  to  the 
Tribes,  or  of  impeaching  any  person  before  them ;  and  he  appears 
to  have  limited  the  right  of  intercession  to  their  giving  protection 
to  private  persons  against  the  unjust  decisions  of  magistrates,  as, 
for  instance,  in  the  enlisting  of  soldiers.  To  degrade  the  Tribunate 
still  lower,  Sulla  enacted  that  whoever  had  held  this  office  forfeit- 
ed thereby  all  right  to  become  a  candidate  for  any  of  the  higher 
curule  offices,  in  order  that  all  persons  of  rank,  talent,  and  wealth 
might  be  deterred  from  holding  an  office  which  would  be  a  fatal 
impediment  to  rising  any  higher  in  the  state.  He  also  required 
persons  to  be  Senators  before  they  could  become  Tribunes. 

II.  Laws  relating  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Corporations. — Sulla  re- 
pealed the  Lex  Domitia,  which  gave  to  the  Comitia  Tributa  the 
right  of  electing  the  members  of  the  great  ecclesiastical  corpora- 
tions, and  restored  to  the  latter  the  right  of  co-optatio,  or  self-elec- 
tion.    At  the  same  time,  he  increased  the  number  of  Pontiffs  and 
Augurs  to  fifteen  respectively. 

III.  Laws  relating  to  the  Administration  of  Justice. — Sulla  estab- 
lished permanent  courts  for  the  trial  of  particular  offenses,  in  each 
of  which  a  Praetor  presided.     A  precedent  for  this  had  been  given 
by  the  Lex  Calpurnia  of  the  Tribune  L.  Calpurnius  Piso,  in  B.C. 
1 49,  by  which  it  was  enacted  that  a  Praetor  should  preside  at  all 
trials  for  Repetundoe  during  his  year  of  office.     This  was  called  a 
Qva-siio  Perpetua,  and  nine  such  Qitccstiones  Perpetual  were  estab- 
lished by  Sulla,  namely,  De  Repetundis,  Majestatis,  Do  Sicariis  et 
Veneficis,  De  Parricidio,  Peculatus,  Ambitus,  De  Nummis  Adultcr- 


198  HISTORY  OF  ROME.         CHAP.  XXVIII. 

inis,  De  Falsis  or  Tcstamentaria,  and  De  Vi  Publica.  Jurisdic- 
tion in  civil  cases  was  left  to  the  Praetor  Peregrinus  and  the  Prae- 
tor Urbanus  as  before,  and  the  other  six  Praetors  presided  in  the 
Quaestiones ;  but  as  the  latter  were  more  in  number  than  the  Prae- 
tors, some  of  the  Praetors  took  more  than  one  Quaestio,  or  a  Judex 
Quaestionis  was  appointed.  The  Praetors,  after  their  election,  had 
to  draw  lots  for  their  several  jurisdictions.  Sulla  enacted  that  the 
Judices  should  be  taken  exclusively  from  the  Senators,  and  not 
from  the  Equites,  the  latter  of  whom  had  possessed  this  privilege, 
with  a  few  interruptions,  from  the  law  of  C.  Gracchus,  in  B.C.  123. 
This  was  a  great  gain  for  the  aristocracy,  since  the  offenses  for 
which  they  were  usually  brought  to  trial,  such  as  bribery,  malver- 
sation, and  the  like,  were  so  commonly  practiced  by  the  whole  or- 
der, that  they  were,  in  most  cases,  nearly  certain  of  acquittal  from 
men  who  required  similar  indulgence  themselves. 

Sulla's  reform  in  the  criminal  law,  the  greatest  and  most  endur- 
ing part  of  his  legislation,  belongs  to  a  history  of  Roman  law,  and 
can  not  be  given  here. 

IV.  Laws  relating  to  the  Improvement  of  Public  Morals.  —  Of 
these  we  have  very  little  information.  One  of  them  was  a  Lex 
Sumtuaria,  which  enacted  that  not  more  than  a  certain  sum  of 
money  should  be  spent  upon  entertainments,  and  also  restrained 
extravagance  in  funerals.  There  was  likewise  a  law  of  Sulla  re- 
specting marriage,  the  provisions  of  which  are  quite  unknown,  as 
it  was  probably  abrogated  by  the  Julian  law  of  Augustus. 


Coin  of  Sulla. 


On  the  obverse  is  the  head  of  Sulla ;  on  the  reverse  that  of  Q.  Pompeius  Rufus,  his  colleague  U 
his  first  Consulship. 


Cn.  FompeiuB  Magnus. 
CHAPTER  XXIX. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OP  SULLA  TO  THE  CONSULSHIP  OP  POMPEY  AXD 
CRASSUS.   B.C.  78-70. 

SULLA  was  scarcely  dead  before  an  attempt  was  made  to  over- 
throw the  aristocratic  constitution  which  he  had  established.  The 
Consul  M.  Lepidus  had  already,  as  we  have  seen,  endeavored  to 
prevent  the  burial  of  Sulla  in  the  Campus  Martius.  He  now  pro- 
posed to  repeal  the  Dictator's  laws  ;  but  the  other  Consul,  Q.  Cat- 
ulus,  remained  firm  to  the  aristocracy,  and  offered  the  most  stren- 
uous opposition  to  the  measures  of  his  colleague.  Shortly  after- 
ward the  Senate  ordered  Lepidus  to  repair  to  Farther  Gaul,  which 
had  been  assigned  to  him  as  his  Province  ;  but  he  availed  himself 
of  the  opportunity  to  collect  an  army  in  Etruria,  and  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  following  year  marched  straight  upon  Rome.  The 
Senate  assembled  an  army,  which  they  placed  under  the  command 
of  Q.  Catulns,  with  Pompey  as  his  lieutenant.  A  battle  was  fought 
near  the  Mulvian  bridge,  in  which  Lepidus  was  defeated,  and,  find- 


200  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXIX. 

ing  it  impossible  to  maintain  his  footing  in  Italy,  he  sailed  with 
the  remainder  of  his  forces  to  Sardinia,  where  he  died  soon  after- 
ward. 

Meantime  the  remainder  of  the  Marian  party  found  refuge  in 
Spain.  Q.  Sertorius,  one  of  the  ablest  of  their  generals,  had  re- 
ceived the  government  of  this  country  in  the  year  B.C.  82.  He 
soon  acquired  an  extraordinary  ascendency  over  the  minds  of  the 
natives,  and  flattered  them  with  the  hope  of  establishing  an  inde- 
pendent state  which  might  bid  defiance  to  Rome.  His  influence 
was  enhanced  by  the  superstition  of  the  people.  He  was  accom- 
panied on  all  occasions  by  a  tame  fawn,  which  they  believed  to  be 
a  familiar  spirit.  So  attached  did  they  become  to  his  person,  that 
he  found  no  difficulty  in  collecting  a  formidable  army,  which  for 
some  years  successfully  opposed  all  the  power  of  Rome.  After  de- 
feating several  generals  whom  Sulla  had  sent  against  him,  ho  had 
to  encounter,  in  B.C.  79,  Q.  Metellus,  who  had  been  Consul  the  pre- 
vious year  with  Sulla.  But  Metellus  did  not  fare  much  better 
than  his  predecessors ;  and  in  B.C.  78  Sertorius  was  re-enforced  by 
a  considerable  body  of  troops  which  Perperna  carried  with  him 
into  Spain  after  the  defeat  of  Lepidus.  The  growing  power  of 
Sertorius  led  the  Senate  to  send  Pompey  to  the  assistance  of  Me- 
tellus. Pompey,  though  only  30  years  of  age,  was  already  regard- 
ed as  the  ablest  general  of  the  Republic  ;  and  as  he  played  such  a 
prominent  part  in  the  later  history,  we  may  here -pause  to  give  a 
brief  account  of  his  early  career. 

POMPEY  was  born  B.C.  106,  and  was,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
the  son  of  Cn.  Pompeius  Strabo,  who  fought  against  the  Italians  in 
his  Consulship,  B.C.  89.  The  young  Pompey  served  under  his  fa- 
ther in  this  war,  when  he  was  only  17  years  of  age,  and  continued 
witli  him  till  his  death  two  years  afterward.  He  was  present  at 
the  battle  of  the  Colline  Gate  in  B.C.  87,  and  shortly  afterward  he 
saved  the  life  of  his  father,  and  quelled  an  insurrection  of  the  sol- 
diers by  his  courage  and  activity.  As  soon  as  Sulla  had  finished 
the  Mithiidatic  war,  and  was  on  his  way  to  Italy,  Pompey,  instead 
of  waiting,  like  the  other  leaders  of  the  aristocracy,  for  the  arrival 
of  their  chief,  resolved  to  share  with  him  the  glory  of  crushing  the 
Marian  party.  Accordingly,  he  proceeded  to  levy  troops  in  Pice- 
num  without  holding  any  public  office ;  and  such  was  his  personal 
influence  that  he  was  able  to  raise  an  army  of  three  legions.  Be- 
fore joining  Sulla  he  gained  a  brilliant  victory  over  the  Marian 
generals,  and  was  received  by  Sulla  with  the  greatest  distinction. 
Upon  the  conclusion  of  the  war  in  Italy  Pompey  was  sent  first  into 
Sicily,  and  afterward  into  Africa,  where  the  Marian  party  still  held 
out.  His  success  was  rapid  and  decisive.  In  a  few  months  he 


B.C.  7G.  POMPEY  IN  SPAIN.  201 

reduced  the  whole  of  Numidia,  and,  unlike  other  Roman  governors, 
abstained,  from  plundering  the  province.  His  military  Achieve- 
ments and  his  incorruptibility  procured  him  the  greatest  renown, 
and  he  returned  to  Home  covered  with  glory  (B.C.  80).  IN  umbers 
flocked  out  of  the  city  to  meet  him  ;  and  the  Dictator  himself,  who 
formed  one  of  the  crowd,  greeted  him  with  the  surname  of  MAG- 
NCS  or  the  GREAT,  which  he  bore  ever  afterward.  Sulla  at  first 
refused  to  let  him  triumph.  Hitherto  no  one  but  a  Dictator,  Con- 
sul, or  Prator  had  enjoyed  this  distinction ;  but  as  Pompey  insist- 
ed upon  the  honor,  Sulla  gave  way,  and  the  young  general  entered 
Rome  in  triumph  as  a  simple  Eques,  and  before  he  had  completed 
his  25th  year. 

Pompey  again  exhibited  his  power  in  promoting,  in  B.C.  79,  the 
election  of  M.  -iEmilius  Lepidus  to  the  Consulship,  in  opposition  to 
the  wishes  of  Sulla.  The  latter  had  now  retired  from  public  af- 
fairs, and  contented  himself  with  warning  Pompey,  as  he  met  him 
returning  from  the  comitia  in  triumph,"  Young  man,  it  is  time  for 
you  not  to  slumber,  for  you  have  strengthened  your  rival  against 
yourself."  Lepidus  seems  to  have  reckoned  upon  the  support  of 
Pompey ;  but  in  this  he  was  disappointed,  for  Pompey  remained 
faithful  to  the  aristocracy,  and  thus  saved  his  party.  He  fought 
at  the  Mulvian  bridge  against  Lepidus,  as  we  have  already  related, 
and  afterward  marched  into  Cisalpine  Gaul  against  the  remains  of 
his  party.  The  Senate,  who  now  began  to  dread  Pompey,  ordered 
him  to  disband  his  army  ;  but  he  found  various  excuses  for  evad- 
ing this  command,  as  he  was  anxious  to  obtain  the  command  of  the 
war  against  Sertorius  in  Spain.  They  hesitated,  however,  to  give 
him  this  opportunity  for  gaining  fresh  distinction  and  additional 
power ;  and  it  was  only  in  consequence  of  the  increasing  power  of 
Sertorius  that  they  at  length  unwillingly  determined  to  send  Pom- 
pey to  Spain,  with  the  title  of  Proconsul,  and  with  powers  equal  to 
Metellus. 

Pompey  arrived  in  Spain  in  B.C.  76.  He  soon  found  that  he  had 
a  more  formidable  enemy  to  deal  with  than  any  he  had  yet  encoun- 
tered. He  suffered  several  defeats,  and,  though  he  gained  some 
advantages,  yet  such  were  his  losses  that  at  the  end  of  two  years 
he  was  obliged  o>  send  to  Rome  for  re-enforcements.  The  war 
continued  three  years  longer ;  but  Sertorius,  who  had  lost  some  of 
his  influence  over  the  Spanish  tribes,  and  who  had  become  an  ob- 
ject of  jealousy  to  M.  Perperna  and  his  principal  Roman  officers, 
was  unable  to  carry  on  operations  with  the  same  vigor  as  during 
the  two  preceding  years.  Pompey  accordingly  gained  some  ad- 
vantages over  him,  but  the  war  was  still  far  from  a  close ;  and  the 
genius  of  Serforiua  would  probably  have  soon  given  a  very  dift'er- 


202  HISTORY  OF  KOME.  CHAP.  XXIX. 

ent  aspect  to  affairs  had  he  not  been  assassinated  by  Perperna  in 
B.C.  72.  Perperna  had  flattered  himself  that  he  should  succeed  to 
the  power  of  Sertorius ;  but  he  soon  found  that  he  had  murdered 
the  only  man  who  was  able  to  save  him  from  ruin.  In  his  first 
battle  with  Pompey  he  was  completely  defeated,  his  principal  offi- 
cers slain,  and  himself  taken  prisoner.  Anxious  to  save  his  life, 
he  offered  to  deliver  up  to  Pompey  the  papers  of  Sertorius,  contain- 
ing letters  from  many  of  the  leading  men  at  Rome.  But  Pompey 
refused  to  see  him,  and  commanded  the  letters  to  be  burnt.  The 
war  was  now  virtually  at  an  end,  and  the  remainder  of  the  year 
was  employed  in  subduing  the  towns  which  still  held  out  against 
Pompey.  Metellus  had  taken  no  part  in  the  final  struggle  with 
Perperna,  and  Pompey  thus  obtained  the  credit  of  bringing  the 
war  to  a  conclusion.  The  people  longed  for  his  return,  that  he 
might  deliver  Italy  from  Spartacus  and  his  horde  of  gladiators,  who 
had  defeated  the  Consuls,  and  were  in  possession  of  a  great  part 
of  the  peninsula. 

A  righteous  retribution  had  overtaken  the  Romans  for  their  love 
of  the  cruel  sports  of  the  amphitheatre.  The  gladiators  were  gen- 
erally prisoners  taken  in  war,  and  sold  to  persons  who  trained  them 
in  schools  for  the  Roman  games.  There  was  such  a  school  at 
Capua,  and  among  the  gladiators  was  a  Thracian  of  the  name  of 
Spartacns,  originally  a  chief  of  banditti,  who  had  been  taken  pris- 
oner by  the  Romans,  and  was  now  destined  to  be  butchered  for 
their  amusement.  Having  prevailed  upon  about  70  of  his  com- 
rades, he  burst  out  of  the  school  with  them,  succeeded  in  obtaining 
arms,  and  took  refuge  in  the  crater  of  Vesuvius,  at  that  time  an  ex- 
tinct volcano  (B.C.  73).  Here  he  was  soon  joined  by  large  numbers 
of  slaves,  who  flocked  to  him  from  all  quarters.  He  was  soon  at 
the  head  of  a  formidable  army.  The  desolation  of  the  Social  and 
Civil  Wars  had  depopulated  Italy,  while  the  employment  of  slave- 
labor  furnished  Spartacus  with  an  endless  supply  of  soldiers.  In 
addition  to  this,  the  war  with  Sertorius  was  not  yet  finished,  and 
that  with  Mithridates,  of  which  we  shall  speak  presently,  had  al- 
ready commenced.  For  upward  of  two  years  Spartacus  was  mas- 
ter of  Italy,  which  he  laid  waste  from  the  foot  of  the  Alps  to  the 
southernmost  corner  of  the  peninsula.  In  B.C.  72  he  found  him- 
self at  the  head  of  100,000  men,  and  defeated  both  Consuls.  As 
the  Consuls  of  the  following  year  had  no  military  reputation,  the 
conduct  of  the  war  was  intrusted  to  the  Praetor,  M.  Licinius  Cras- 
sus,  who  had  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  the  wars  of  Sulla.  He 
had  been  rewarded  by  the  Dictator  with  donations  of  confiscated 
pi-operty,  and  had  accumulated  an  immense  fortune.  Six  legions 
were  now  given  him  in  addition  to  the  remains  of  the  Consular 


B.C.  70.      POMPEY  AND  CRASSUS  CONSULS.  203 

armies  already  in  the  field.  The  Roman  troops  were  disheartened 
and  disorganized  by  defeat,  but  Crassus  restored  discipline  by  deci- 
mating the  soldiers.  Spartacus  was  driven  to  the  extreme  point 
of  Bruttium.  Crassus  drew  strong  lines  of  circumvallation  around 
Rhegium,  and  by  his  superior  numbers  prevented  the  escape  of  the 
slaves.  Spartacus  now  attempted  to  pass  over  to  Sicily,  where  he 
would  have  been  welcomed  by  thousands  of  followers.  He  failed 
in  the  attempt  to  cross  the  straits,  but  at  length  succeeded  in  forc- 
ing his  way  through  the  lines  of  Crassus.  The  Roman  general 
hastened  in  pursuit,  and  in  Lucania  fell  in  with  the  main  body  of 
the  fugitives.  A  desperate  battle  ensued,  in  which  Spartacus  per- 
ished, with  the  greater  part  of  his  followers.  About  COOO  were 
taken  prisoners,  whom  Crassus  impaled  on  each  side  of  the  Appian 
road  between  Rome  and  Capua.  A  body  of  5000  made  their  way 
northward,  whom  Pompey  met  as  he  was  returning  from  Spain, 
and  cut  to  pieces.  Crassus  had,  in  reality,  brought  the  war  to  an 
end,  but  Pompey  took  the  credit  to  himself,  and  wrote  to  the  Sen- 
ate, saying,  "  Crassus,  indeed,  has  defeated  the  enemy,  but  I  have 
extirpated  them  by  the  roots." 

Pompey  and  Crassus  now  approached  the  city  at  the  head  of 
their  armies,  arid  each  laid  claim  to  the  Consulship.  Neither  of 
them  was  qualified  by  the  laws  of  Sulla.  Pompey  was  only  in  his 
35th  year,  and  had  not  even  held  the  ofBce  of  Quaestor.  Crassus 
was  still  Praetor,  and  two  years  ought  to  elapse  before  he  could  be- 
come Consul.  Pompey,  however,  agreed  to  support  the  claims  of 
Crassus,  and  the  Senate  dared  not  offer  open  opposition  to  two 
generals  at  the  head  of  powerful  armies.  Pompey,  moreover,  de- 
clared himself  the  advocate  of  the  popular  rights,  and  promised  to 
restore  the  Tribunitian  power.  Accordingly,  they  were  elected 
Consuls  for  the  following  year.  Pompey  entered  the  city  in  tri- 
umph on  the  31st  of  December,  B.C.  71,  and  Crassus  enjoyed  the 
honor  of  an  ovation. 

The  Consulship  of  Pompey  and  Crassus  (B.C.  70)  was  memora- 
ble for  the  repeal  of  the  most  important  portions  of  Sulla's  consti- 
tutional reforms.  One  of  Pompey's  first  acts  was  to  redeem  the 
pledge  he  had  given  to  the  people,  by  bringing  forward  a  law  for 
the  restoration  of  the  Tribunitian  power.  The  law  was  passed 
with  little  opposition ;  for  the  Senate  felt  that  it  was  worse  than 
useless  to  contend  against  Pompey,  supported  as  he  was  by  the  pop- 
ular enthusiasm  and  by  his  troops,  which  were  still  in  the  immedi- 
ate neighborhood  of  the  city.  He  also  struck  another  blow  at  the 
aristocracy.  By  one  of  Sulla's  laws,  the  Judiccs,  during  the  last 
ten  years,  had  been  chosen  from  the  Senate.  The  corruption  and 
Venality  of  the  latter  in  the  administration  of  justice  had  excited 


204 


IIISTOKY  OF  ROME. 


CHAP.  XXIX. 


such  general  indignation  that  some  change  was  clamorously  de- 
manded by  the  people.  Accordingly,  the  Praetor  L.  Aurelius  Cot- 
ta,  with  the  approbation  of  Pompey,  proposed  a  law  by  which  the 
Judices  were  to  be  taken  in  future  from  the  Senate,  Equites,  and 
Tribuni  -3£rarii,  the  latter  probably  representing  the  wealthier  mem- 
bers of  the  third  order  in  the  state.  This  law  was  likewise  car- 
ried ;  but  it  did  not  improve  the  purity  of  the  administration  of 
justice,  since  corruption  was  not  confined  to  the  Senators,  but  per- 
vaded all  classes  of  the  community  alike.  Pompey  had  thus  bro- 
ken with  the  aristocracy,  and  had  become  the  great  popular  hero. 
In  carrying  both  these  measures  he  was  strongly  supported  by  Cay 
sar,  who,  though  he  was  rapidly  rising  in  popular  favor,  could  a? 
yet  only  hope  to  weaken  the  pewer  of  the  aristocracy  through  Pom 
pey's  means. 


Temple  of  Pudicitia  Patricia  at  Rome. 


Coin  of  Mithridates. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THIRD   OR   GREAT   MITHRIDATIC    WAR.       B.C.  74-61. 

WHEN  Sulla  returned  to  Italy  after  the  First  Mithridatic  War, 
he  left  L.  Murena,  with  two  legions,  to  hold  the  command  in  Asia. 
Murena,  who  was  eager  for  some  opportunity  of  earning  the  honor 
of  a  triumph,  pretending  that  Mithridates  had  not  yet  evacuated 
the  whole  of  Cappadocia,  not  only  marched  into  that  country,  but 
even  crossed  the  Halys,  and  laid  waste  the  plains  of  Pontus  itself 
(B.C.  83).  To  this  flagrant  breach  of  the  treaty  so  lately  concluded 
the  Roman  general  was  in  great  measure  instigated  by  Archelaus, 
who,  finding  himself  regarded  with  suspicion  by  Mithridates,  had 
consulted  his  safety  by  flight,  and  was  received  with  the  utmost 
honors  by  the  Romans.  Mithridates,  who  was  wholly  unprepared 
to  renew  the  contest  with  Rome,  offered  no  opposition  to  the  prog- 
ress of  Murena ;  but  finding  that  general  disregard  his  remon- 
strances, he  sent  to  Rome  to  complain  of  his  aggression.  When, 
in  the  following  spring  (B.C.  82).  he  saw  Murena  preparing  to  re- 
new his  hostile  incursions,  he  at  once  determined  to  oppose  him  by 
force,  and  assembled  a  large  army,  with  which  he  met  the  Roman 
general  on  the  banks  of  the  Halys.  The  action  that  ensued  term- 
inated in  the  complete  victory  of  the  king,  and  Murena,  with  dif- 
ficulty, effected  his  retreat  into  Phrygia,  leaving  Cappadocia  at  the 
mercy  of  Mithridates,  who  quickly  overran  the  whole  province. 
Shortly  afterward  A.  Gabinius  arrived  in  Asia,  bringing  perempto- 
ry orders  from  Sulla  to  Murena  to  desist  from  hostilities,  where- 
upon Mithridates  once  more  consented  to  evacuate  Cappadocia. 
Thus  ended  what  is  commonly  called  the  Second  Mithridaiic  War. 

Notwithstanding  the  interposition  of  Sulla,  Mithridates  was  well 
aware  that  the  peace  between  him  and  Rome  was  in  fact  only  sus- 


206  HISTORY  OF  KOME.  CHAP.  XXX. 

pension  of  hostilities,  and  that  the  haughty  Republic  would  never 
suffer  the  massacre  of  her  citizens  in  Asia  to  remain  ultimately  un- 
punished. Hence  all  his  efforts  were  directed  toward  the  forma- 
tion of  an  army  capable  of  contending,  not  only  in  numbers,  but  in 
discipline,  with  those  of  Home;  and  with  this  view  he  armed  his 
barbarian  troops  after  the  Roman  fashion,  and  endeavored  to  train 
them  up  in  that  discipline  of  which  he  had  so  strongly  felt  the  ef- 
fect in  the  preceding  contest.  In  these  attempts  he  was  doubtless 
assisted  by  the  refugees  of  the  Marian  party,  who  had  accompanied 
Fimbria  into  Asia,  and  on  the  defeat  of  that  general  by  Sulla  had 
taken  refuge  with  the  King  of  Pontus.  At  their  instigation,  also, 
Mithridates  sent  an  embassy  to  Sertorius,  who  was  still  maintaining 
his  ground  in  Spain,  and  concluded  an  alliance  with  him  against 
their  common  enemies.  But  it  was  the  death  of  Nicomedes  III., 
king  of  Bithynia,  at  the  beginning  of  B.C.  74,  that  brought  matters 
to  a  crisis,  and  became  the  immediate  occasion  of  the  war  which 
both  parties  had  long  felt  to  be  inevitable.  That  monarch  left  his 
dominions  by  will  to  the  Roman  people,  and  Bithynia  was  accord- 
ingly declared  a  Roman  province ;  but  Mithridates  asserted  that 
the  late  king  had  left  a  legitimate  son  by  his  wife  Nysa,  whose  pre- 

^tensions  he  immediately  prepared  to  support  by  his  arms. 

^  The  forces  with  which  Mithridates  was  now  prepared  to  take 
the  field  were  such  as  might  inspire  him  with  no  unreasonable  con- 
fidence of  victory.  He  had  assembled  an  army  of  120,000  foot- 
soldiers,  armed  and  disciplined  in  the  Roman  manner,  and  16,000 
horse,  besides  a  hundred  scythed  chariots.  His  fleet,  also,  was  so 
far  superior  to  any  that  the  Romans  could  oppose  to  him  as  to 
give  him  the  almost  undisputed  command  of  the  sea.  These  prep- 
arations, however,  appear  to  have  delayed  him  so  long  that  the 
season  was  far  advanced  before  he  was  able  to  take  the  field,  and 
both  the  Roman  Consuls,  L.  Licinius  Lucullus  and  M.  Aurelius 
Cotta,  had  arrived  in  Asia.  Neither  of  them,  however,  was  able  to 
oppose  his  first  irruption.  He  traversed  almost  the  whole  of  Bi- 
thynia without  encountering  any  resistance ;  and  when  at  length 
Cotta  ventured  to  give  him  battle  under  the  walls  of  Chalcedon,  his 
army  and  fleet  were  totally  defeated.  Mithridates  now  proceeded 
to  lay  siege  to  Cyzicus  both  by  sea  and  land.  But  Lucullus,  who 
had  advanced  from  Phrygia  to  the  relief  of  Cotta,  and  followed 
Mithridates  to  Cyzicus,  took  possession  of  an  advantageous  posi- 
tion near  the  camp  of  the  king,  where  he  almost  entirely  cut  him 
off  from  receiving  supplies  by  land,  while  the  storms  of  the  winter 
prevented  him  from  depending  on  those  by  sea.  Hence  it  was  not 
long  before  famine  began  to  make  itself  felt  in  the  camp  of  Mith- 
ridates, and  all  his  assaults  upon  the  city  having  been  foiled  by  the 


B.C.  74-61.       THIKD  MITHRIDATIC  WAR. 


207 


courage  and  resolution  of  the  besieged,  he  was  at  length  compelled 
(early  in  the  year  B.C.  73)  to  abandon  the  enterprise  and  raise  the 
siege.  In  his  retreat  he  was  repeatedly  attacked  by  the  Roman 
general,  and  suffered  very  heavy  loss  at  the  passage  of  the  ^Esejms 
and  Granicus.  By  the  close  of  the  year  the  great  army  with  which 
he  had  commenced  the  war  was  annihilated,  and  he  was  not  only 
compelled  to  retire  within  his  own  dominions,  but  was  without  the 
means  of  opposing  the  advance  of  Lucullus  into  the  heart  of  Pon- 
tus  itself.  But  he  now  again  set  to  work  with  indefatigable  activ- 
ity to  raise  a  fresh  army ;  and  while  he  left  Che  whole  ol  the  sea- 
coast  of  Pontus  open  to  the  invaders,  he  established  himself  in  the 
interior  at  Cabira.  Here  he  was  again  defeated  by  Lucullus ;  and 
despairing  of  opposing  the  farther  progress  of  the  Romans,  be  fled 
into  Armenia  to  claim  the  protection  and  assistance  of  his  son-in- 
law  Tigranes. 


Coin  of  Tigranes. 

Tigranes  was  at  this  moment  the  most  powerful  monarch  of 
Asia,  but  he  appears  to  have  been  unwilling  to  engage  openly  in 
war  with  Rome ;  and  on  this  account,  while  he  received  the  fugi- 
tive monarch  in  a  friendly  manner,  he  refused  to  admit  him  to  his 
presence,  and  showed  no  disposition  to  attempt  his  restoration. 
But  the  arrogance  of  the  Romans  brought  about  a  change  in  his 
policy;  and  Tigranes,  offended  at  the  haughty  conduct  of  Appius 
Claudius,  whom  Lucullus  had  sent  to  demand  the  surrender  of 
Mithridates,  not  only  refused  this  request,  but  determined  at  ouce 
to  prepare  for  war. 

While  Lucullus  was  waiting  for  the  return  of  Claudius,  he  de- 
voted his  attention  to  the  settlement  of  the  affairs  of  Asia,  which 
was  suffering  severely  from  the  oppressions  of  the  farmers  of  the 
public  taxes.  By  various  judicious  regulations  he  put  a  stop  to 
their  exactions,  and  earned  the  gratitude  of  the  cities  of  Asia ; 
but  at  the  same  time  he  brought  upon  himself  the  enmity  of  the 
Equites,  who  were  the  farmers  of  the  revenue.  They  were  loud 


208  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXX. 

against  him  in  their  complaints  at  Rome,  and  by  their  continued 
clamors  undoubtedly  prepared  the  way  for  his  ultimate  recall. 

Meanwhile  community  of  interests  between  Mithridates  and  Ti- 
granes  had  led  to  a  complete  reconciliation  between  them,  and  the 
Pontic  king,  who  had  spent  a  year  and  eight  months  in  the  domin- 
ions of  his  son-in-law  without  being  admitted  to  a  personal  inter- 
view, was  now  made  to  participate  in  all  the  councils  of  Tigranes, 
jind  appointed  to  levy  an  army  to  unite  in  the  war.  But  it  was  in 
vain  that  in  the  ensuing  campaign  (B.C.  C9)  he  urged  upon  his  son- 
in-law  the  lessons  of  his  own  experience,  and  advised  him  to  shun 
a,  regular  action  with  Lucullus :  Tigranes,  confident  in  the  multi- 
tude of  his  forces,  gave  battle  at  Tigranocerta,  and  was  defeated, 
before  Mithridates  had  been  able  to  join  him.  But  this  disaster,  so 
precisely  in  accordance  with  the  warnings  of  Mithridates,  served  to 
raise  the  latter  so  high  in  the  estimation  of  Tigranes,  that  from 
this  time  forward  the  whole  conduct  of  the  war  was  intrusted  to 
the  direction  of  the  King  of  Fontus. 

In  the  following  summer  (B.C.  68)  Lucullus  crossed  the  Taurus, 
penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Armenia,  and  again  defeated  the  allied 
monarchs  near  the  city  of  Artaxata.  But  the  early  severity  of  the 
season,  and  the  discontent  of  his  own  troops,  checked  the  farther 
advance  of  the  Roman  general,  who  turned  aside  into  Mesopota- 
mia. Here  Mithridates  left  him  to  lay  siege  to  the  fortress  of  Ni- 
sibis,  which  was  supposed  to  be  impregnable,  while  he  himself  took 
advantage  of  his  absence  to  invade  Pontus  at  the  head  of  a  large 
army,  and  endeavor  to  regain  possession  of  his  former  dominions. 
The  defense  of  Pontus  was  confided  to  Fabins,  one  of  the  lieuten- 
ants of  Lucullus;  but  the  oppression  of  the  Romans  had  excited  a 
general  spirit  of  disaffection,  and  the  people  crowded  around  the 
standard  of  Mithridates.  Fabius  was  totally  defeated,  and  com- 
pelled to  shut  himself  up  in  the  fortress  of  Cabira.  In  the  follow- 
ing spring  (B.C.  67),  Triarius,  another  of  the  Roman  generals,  was 
also  defeated  with  immense  loss.  The  blow  was  one  of  the  sever- 
est which  the  Roman  arms  had  sustained  for  a  long  period :  7000 
of  their  troops  fell,  among  whom  were  an  unprecedented  number 
of  officers,  and  their  camp  itself  was  taken. 

The  advance  of  Lucullus  himself  from  Mesopotamia  prevented 
Mithridates  from  following  up  his  advantage,  and  he  withdrew  into 
Lesser  Armenia,  where  he  took  up  a  strong  position  to  await  the 
approach  of  Tigranes.  But  the  farther  proceedings  of  Lucullus 
were  paralyzed  by  the  mutinous  and  disaffected  spirit  of  his  own 
soldiers.  Their  discontents  were  fostered  by  P.  Clodius,  whose  tur- 
bulent and  restless  spirit  already  showed  itself  in  its  full  force,  and 
were  encouraged  by  report-;  from  Rome,  where  the  demagogues 


B.C.  GG".       POMPEY  SUPERSEDES  LUCULLUS.  209 

who  were  favorable  to  Pompey,  or  had  been  gained  over  by  the 
Equestrian  party,  were  loud  in  their  clamors  against  Lucullus. 
They  accused  him  of  protracting  the  war  for  his  own  personal  ob- 
jects, either  of  ambition  or  avarice;  and  the  soldiery,  whose  appe- 
tite for  plunder  had  been  often  checked  by  Lucullus,  readily  joined 
in  the  outcry.  Accordingly,  on  the  arrival  of  Tigranes,  the  two 
monarchs  found  themselves  able  to  overrun  almost  the  whole  of 
Pontus  and  Cappadocia  without  opposition. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  ten  legates  arrived  in  Asia 
to  reduce  Pontus  to  the  form  of  a  Roman  province,  and  they  l.ad, 
in  consequence,  to  report  to  the  Senate  that  the  country  supposed 
to  be  conquered  was  again  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  ad- 
versaries of  Lucullus  naturally  availed  themselves  of  so  favorable 
an  occasion,  and  a  decree  was  passed  transferring  to  M.  Acilius 
Glabrio,  one  of  the  Consuls  for  the  year,  the  province  of  Bitliynia, 
and  the  command  against  Mithridates.  But  Glabrio  was  wholly 
incompetent  for  the  task  assigned  to  him.  On  arriving  in  Bithynia 
he  made  no  attempt  to  assume  the  command,  but  remained  within 
the  confines  of  his  province,  while  he  still  farther  embarrassed  the 
position  of  Lucullus  by  issuing  proclamations  to  his  soldiers,  an- 
nouncing to  them  that  their  general  was  superseded,  and  releasing 
them  from  their  obedience.  Before  the  close  of  the  year  (B.C.  67) 
Lucullus  had  the  mortification  of  seeing  Mithridates  established 
once  more  in  the  possession  of  his  hereditary  dominions.  But  it 
was  still  more  galling  to  his  feelings  when,  in  the  spring  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  (B.C.  G6),  he  was  called  upon  to  resign  the  command 
to  Pompey,  who  had  just  brought  to  a  successful  termination  the 
war  against  the  pirates. 

The  Mediterranean  Sea  had  long  been  swarming  with  pirates. 
From  the  earliest  times  piracy  has  more  or  less  prevailed  in  this 
sea,  which,  lying  between  three  continents,  and  abounding  with 
numerous  creeks  and  islands,  presents  at  the  same  time  both  the 
greatest  temptations  and  the  greatest  facilities  for  piratical  pur- 
suits. Moreover,  in  consequence  of  the  Social  and  Civil  wars,  and 
the  absence  of  any  fleet  to  preserve  order  upon  the  sea,  piracy  had 
reached  an  alarming  height.  The  pirates  possessed  fleets  in  all 
parts  of  the  Mediterranean,  were  in  the  habit  of  plundering  the 
most  wealthy  cities  on  the  coasts,  and  had  at  length  carried  their 
audacity  so  far  as  to  make  descents  upon  the  Appian  Road,  and 
carry  tiff  Roman  magistrates,  with  their  lictors.  All  communica- 
tion between  Rome  and  the  provinces  was  cut  off,  or  at  least  ren- 
dered extremely  dangerous ;  the  fleets  of  corn-vessels,  upon  which 
Rome  to  a  great  extent  depended  for  its  subsistence,  could  not 
reach  the  city,  and  the  price  of  provisions  in  consequence  rose  enor- 
O 


210  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXX. 

mously.  Such  a  state  of  things  had  become  intolerable,  and  all 
eyes  were  now  directed  to  Pompey.  At  the  beginning  of  B.c.GZ 
the  Tribune  A.  Gabinius  brought  forward  a  bill  which  was  intend- 
ed to  give  Pompey  almost  absolute  authority  over  the  greater  part 
of  the  Roman  world.  It  proposed  that  the  people  should  elect  a 
man  with  consular  rank,  who  should  possess  unlimited  power  for 
three  years  over  the  whole  of  the  Mediterranean,  a  fleet  of  200 
ships,  with  as  many  soldiers  and  sailors  as  he  thought  necessary, 
and  GOOO  Attic  talents.  The  bill  did  not  name  Pompey,  but  it  was 
clear  who  was  meant.  The  aristocracy  were  in  the  utmost  alarm, 
and  in  the  Senate  Caesar  was  almost  the  only  person  who  came  for- 
ward in  its  support.  Party  spirit  ran  to  such  a  height  that  the 
most  serious  riots  ensued.  Even  Pompey  himself  was  threatened 
by  the  Consul,  "If  you  emulate  Romulus, you  will  not  escape  the 
end  of  Romulus."  Q.  Catulus  and  Q.  Hortensius  spoke  against 
the  bill  with  great  eloquence,  but  with  no  effect.  On  tho  day  that 
the  bill  was  passed  the  price  of  provisions,  at  Rome  immediately 
fell,  a  fact  which  showed  the  immense  confidence  which  all  parties 
placed  in  the  military  abilities  of  Pompey. 

Pompey's  plans  were  formed  with  great  skill,  and  were  crowned 
with  complete  success.  He  stationed  his  lieutenants  with  different 
squadrons  in  various  parts  of  the  Mediterranean  to  prevent  the  pi- 
rates from  uniting,  and  to  hunt  them  out  of  the  various  bays  and 
creeks  in  which  they  concealed  themselves ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  he  swept  the  middle  of  the  sea  with  the  main  body  of  his  fleet, 
and  chased  them  eastward.  In  forty  days  he  drove  the  pirates  out 
of  the  western  seas,  and  restored  communication  between  Spain, 
Africa,  and  Italy.  After  then  remaining  a  short  time  in  Italy,  he 
sailed  from  Brundusium,  cleared  the  seas  as  he  went  along,  and 
forced  the  pirates  to  the  Cilician  coast.  Here  the  decisive  action 
was  fought ;  the  pirates  were  defeated,  and  more  than  20,000  pris- 
oners fell  into  his  hands.  Those  on  whom  most  reliance  could  be 
placed  were  distributed  among  the  small  and  depopulated  cities  of 
Cilicia,  and  a  large  number  were  settled  at  Soli,  which  was  hence- 
forward called  Pompciopolis.  The  second  part  of  this  campaign 
occupied  only  forty-nine  days,  and  the  whole  war  was  brought  to 
a  conclusion  in  the  course  of  three  months.  Pompey  remained  iu 
Cilicia  during  the  remainder  of  this  year  and  the  beginning  of  the 
one  following.  Meantime  the  Tribune  C.  Manilius  brought  for- 
ward a  bill  (H.C.  66)  giving  to  Pompey  the  command  of  tite  waf 
against  Mithridates,  with  unlimited  power  over  the  army  and  the 
fleet  in  the  East,  and  with  the  rights  of  a  Proconsul  in  the  whole  of 
Asia  as  far  as  Armenia.  As  his  Proconsular  power  already  ex- 
tended over  all  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the  Mediterranean  in  vir- 


B.C.  66.      POMPEY  DEFEATS  MITUKIDATES.  211 

tue  of  the  Gabinian  law,  this  new  measure  virtually  placed  almost 
the  whole  of  the  Roman  dominions  in  his  hands.  But  there  was 
no  power,  however  excessive,  which  the  people  were  not  ready  to 
intrust  to  their  favorite  hero ;  and  the  bill  was  accordingly  passed, 
notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  Hortensius,  Catulus,  and  the  ar- 
istocratical  party.  Cicero  advocated  the  measure  in  an  oration 
which  has  come  down  to  us  (Pro  Lege  Manilla),  and  Caesar  like- 
wise supported  it  with  his  growing  popularity  and  influence. 

On  receiving  intelligence  of  this  new  appointment,  Pompey  im- 
mediately crossed  the  Taurus,  and  took  the  command  of  the  army 
from  Lucullus. 

The  power  of  Mithridates  had  been  broken  by  the  previous  vic- 
tories of  Lucullus,  and  the  successes  which  the  king  had  gained 
lately  were  only  of  a  temporary  nature,  mainly  owing  to  the  disor- 
ganization of  the  Roman  army.  In  the  plan  of  the  campaign  Pom- 
pey displayed  great  military  skill.  One  of  his  first  measures  was 
to  secure  the  alliance  of  the  Parthian  king,  which  not  only  deprived 
Mithridates  of  all  hopes  of  succor  from  that  quarter,  but  likewise 
cut  him  off  from  all  assistance  from  the  Armenian  king  Tigrancs, 
who  was  now  obliged  to  look  to  the  safety  of  his  own  dominions. 
Pompey  next  stationed  his  fleet  in  different  squadrons  along  the 
coasts  of  Asia  Minor,  in  order  to  deprive  Mithridates  of  all  commu- 
nication from  the  sea,  and  he  then  proceeded  in  person  at  the  head 
of  his  land-forces  against  the  king.  Thus  thrown  back  upon  his 
own  resources,  Mithridates  sued  for  peace,  but,  as  Pompey  would 
hear  of  nothing  but  unqualified  submission,  the  negotiation  was 
broken  off.  The  king  was  still  at  the  head  of  30,000  foot  and  2000 
horse ;  but  he  knew  too  well  the  strength  of  a  Roman  army  to  ven- 
ture an  engagement  with  these  forces,  and  accordingly  withdrew 
gradually  to  the  frontiers  of  Armenia.  For  a  long  time  he  suc- 
ceeded in  avoiding  a  battle,  but  he  was  at  length  surprised  by  Pom- 
pey in  Lesser  Armenia,  as  he  was  marching  through  a  narrow  pass. 
The  battle  was  soon  decided ;  the  king  lost  the  greater  number  of 
his  troops,  and  escaped  with  only  a  few  horsemen  to  the  fortress  of 
Synorium,  on  the  borders  of  the  Greater  Armenia.  Here  he  again 
collected  a  considerable  force ;  but  as  Tigranes  refused  to  admit 
him  into  his  dominions,  because  he  suspected  him  of  fomenting  the 
intrigues  of  his  son  against  him,  Mithridates  had  no  alternative  but 
to  take  refuge  in  his  own  distant  dominions  in  the  Cimmerian  Bos- 
porus. To  reach  them  he  had  to  march  through  Colchis,  and  to 
fight  his  way  through  the  wild  and  barbarous  tribes  that  occupied 
the  country  between  the  Caucasus  and  the  Euxine.  He  succeed- 
ed, however,  in  this  arduous  enterprise,  and  reached  the  Bosporus 
in  safety  in  the  course  of  next  year.  Pompey  abandoned  at  pres- 


212  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXX. 

ent  all  thoughts  of  following  the  fugitive  king,  and  resolved  at  once 
to  attack  Tigranes,  who  was  now  the  more  formidable  of  the  two 
monarchs. 

On  entering  Armenia  Pompey  met  with  no  opposition.  He  was 
joined  by  the  young  Tigranes,  who  had  revolted  against  his  fa- 
ther, and  all  the  cities  submitted  to  them  on  their  approach.  When 
the  Romans  drew  near  to  Artaxata,  the  king,  deserted  by  his  army 
and  his  court,  went  out  to  meet  Pompey,  and  threw  himself  before 
him  as  a  suppliant.  Pompey  received  him  with  kindness,  acknowl- 
edged him  as  King  of  Armenia,  and  demanded  only  the  payment 
of  GOOD  talents.  His  foreign  possessions,  however,  in  Syria,  Phoe- 
nicia, Cilicia,  Galatia,  and  Cappadocia,  which  had  been  conquered 
by  Lucullus,  were  to  belong  to  the  Romans.  To  his  son  Tigranes, 
Sophene  and  Gordyene  were  given  as  an  independent  kingdom ; 
"but  as  the  young  prince  was  discontented  with  this  arrangement, 
and  even  ventured  to  utter  threats,  Pompey  had  him  arrested,  and 
kept  him  in  chains  to  grace  his  triumph. 

After  thus  settling  the  affairs  of  Armenia,  Pompey  proceeded 
northward  in  pursuit  of  Mithridates.  But  the  season  was  so  far 
advanced  that  he  took  up  his  winter  quarters  on  the  banks  of  the 
River  Cyrus.  Early  in  the  spring  (B.C.  65)  he  resumed  his  march 
northward,  and  advanced  as  far  as  the  River  Phasis,  but,  obtaining 
here  more  certain  information  of  the  movements  of  Mithridates, 
and  of  the  wild  and  inaccessible  nature  of  the  country  through 
which  he  would  have  to  march  in  order  to  reach  the  king,  he  re- 
traced his  steps,  and  led  his  troops  into  winter  quarters  at  Amisus, 
on  the  Euxine.  He  now  reduced  Pontus  to  the  form  of  a  Roman 
province. 

In  B.C.  64  Pompey  marched  into  Syria,  where  he  deposed  An- 
tiochus  Asiaticus,  and  made  the  country  a  Roman  province.  He 
likewise  compelled  the  neighboring  princes,  who  had  established 
independent  kingdoms  on  the  ruins  of  the  Syrian  empire,  to  sub- 
mit to  the  Roman  dominion.  The  whole  of  this  year  was  occupied 
with  the  settlement  of  Syria  and  the  adjacent  countries. 

Next  year  (B.C.  63)  Pompey  advanced  farther  south,  in  order  to 
establish  the  Roman  supremacy  in  Phoenicia,  Code-Syria,  and  Pal- 
istine.  The  latter  country  was  at  this  time  distracted  by  a  civ'l 
war  between  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus.  Pompey  espoused  the'* 
side  of  Hyrcanus,  and  Aristobulus  surrendered  himself  to  Pompey 
when  the  latter  had  advanced  near  to  Jerusalem.  But  the  Jews 
refused  to  follow  the  example  of  their  king,  and  it  was  not  till  aft- 
er  a  siege  of  three  months  that  the  city  was  taken.  Pompey  en- 
tered  the  Holy  of  Holies,  the  first  time  that  any  human  being,  ex- 
cept the  high-priest,  had  penetrated  into  this  sacred  spot.  He  ra> 


JB.C.  G3.  DEATH  OF  MITHRIDATES.  213 

instated  Hyrcanus  in  the  high-priesthood,  but  compelled  him  to 
pa}'  an  annual  tribute  to  Rome;  Aristobulus  accompanied  him  as 
a  prisoner.  It  was  during  this  war  in  Palestine  that  Pompey  re- 
ceived intelligence  of  the  death  of  Mithridates. 

During  the  last  two  years  Mithridates  had  been  making  the 
most  extensive  preparations  for  a  renewal  of  the  contest.  He  had 
conceived  the  daring  project  of  marching  round  the  north  and  west 
coasts  of  the  Euxine,  and  penetrating  even  into  Italy.  With  these 
views,  he  was  busily  engaged  in  assembling  such  a  fleet  and  army 
as  would  be  sufficient  for  an  enterprise  of  this  magnitude  ;  but  his 
proceedings  were  delayed  by  a  long  and  painful  illness,  which  in- 
capacitated him  for  any  personal  exertion.  At  length,  however, 
his  preparations  were  completed,  and  he  found  himself  at  the  head 
of  an  army  of  36,000  men  and  a  considerable  fleet.  But  during 
his  illness  disaffection  had  made  rapid  progress  among  his  follow- 
ers. The  full  extent  of  his  schemes  was  probably  communicated 
to  few ;  but  enough  had  transpired  to  alarm  the  multitude,  and  a 
formidable  conspiracy  was  organized  by  Pharnaces,  the  favorite  son 
of  Mithridates.  He  was  quickly  joined  both  by  the  whole  army 
and  the  citizens  of  Panticapaeum,  who  unanimously  proclaimed 
him  king,  and  Mithridates  saw  that  no  choice  remained  to  him  but 
death  or  captivity.  Hereupon  he  took  poison,  which  he  constant- 
ly carried  with  him ;  but  his  constitution  had  been  so  long  inured 
to  antidotes  that  it  did  not  produce  the  desired  effect,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  one  of  his  Gaulish  mercena- 
ries to  dispatch  him  with  his  sword. 

Pompey  now  devoted  his  attention  to  the  settlement  of  affairs  in 
Asia.  He  confirmed  Pharnaces,  the  son  of  Mithridates,  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  kingdom  of  Bosporus ;  Deiotarus,  tetrarch  of  Gala- 
tia,  was  rewarded  with  an  extension  of  territory ;  and  Ariobarza- 
nes,  king  of  Cappadocia,  was  restored  to  his  kingdom.  After  an 
absence  of  seven  years,  Pompey  arrived  in  Italy  toward  the  end  of 
B.C.  G2.  His  arrival  had  been  long  looked  for  by  all  parties  with 
various  feelings  of  hope  and  fear.  It  was  felt  that  at  the  head  of 
his  victorious  troops  he  could  easily  play  the  part  of  Sulla,  and  be- 
come the  ruler  of  the  state.  Important  events  had  taken  place  at 
Rome  during  the  absence  of  Pompey,  of  which  it  is  necessary  to 
give  an  account  before  following  him  to  the  city. 


Cicero. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

INTERNAL  HISTORY,  FROM  THE  CONSULSHIP  OF  POMPEY  AND  CRAS- 
SUS  TO  THE  RETURN  OF  POMPEY  FROM  THE  EAST. — THE  CON- 
SPIRACY  OF  CATILINE.  B.C.  69-61. 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  restoration  of  the  Tribunate  and  the  al- 
teration in  the  judicial  power  in  Pompey's  Consulship,  the  popular 
party  had  received  such  a  severe  blow  during  Sulla's  supremacy, 
that  the  aristocracy  still  retained  the  chief  political  influence  dur- 
ing Pompey's  absence  in  the  East.  But  meantime  a  new  leader 
of  the  popular  party  had  been  rapidly  rising  into  notice,  who  was 
destined  not  only  to  crush  the  aristocracy,  but  to  overthrow  the  Re- 
public and  become  the  undisputed  master  of  the  Roman  world. 

C.  JULIUS  CAESAR,  who  was  descended  from  an  old  Patrician 
family,  was  six  years  younger  than  Pompey,  having  been  born  in 
B.C.  100.  He  was  closely  connected  with  the  popular  party  by  the 
marriage  of  his  aunt  Julia  with  the  great  Marius,  and  he  himself 
married,  at  an  early  age,  Cornelia,  the  daughter  of  Cinna,  the  most 


B.C.  100-08.  C.  JULIUS  (LESAR.  215 

distinguished  of  the  Marian  leaders.  Sulla  commanded  him  to 
divorce  his  wife,  and  on  his  refusal  he  was  included  in  the  list  of 
the  proscription.  The  Vestal  virgins  and  his  friends  with  difficul- 
ty obtained  his  pardon  from  the  Dictator,  who  observed,  when  they 
pleaded  his  youth  and  insignificance,  "that  that  boy  would  some 
day  or  another  be  the  ruin  of  the  aristocracy,  for  that  there  were 
many  Mariuses  in  him." 

This  was  the  first  proof  which  Csesar  gave  of  the  resolution  and 
decision  of  character  which  distinguished  him  throughout  life.  He 
went  to  Asia  in  B.C.  81,  where  he  served  his  first  campaign  under 
M.  Minucius  Thermus,  and  was  rewarded,  at  the  siege  of  Mitylene, 
with  a  civic  crown  for  saving  the  life  of  a  fellow-soldier.  On  his 
return  to  Rome  he  accused  (B.C.  77)  Cn.  Dolabella  of  extortion  in 
his  province  of  Macedonia.  Dolabella  was  acquitted  by  the  sena- 
torial judges;  but  Caesar  gained  great  reputation  by  this  prosecu- 
tion, and  showed  that  he  possessed  powers  of  oratory  which  bade 
fair  to  place  him  among  the  foremost  speakers  at  Rome.  To  ren- 
der himself  still  more  perfect  in  oratory,  he  went  to  Rhodes,  which 
was  then  celebrated  for  its  school  of  rhetoric,  but  in  his  voyage 
thither  he  was  captured  by  pirates,  with  whom  the  seas  of  the  Med- 
iterranean then  swarmed.  In  this  island  he  was  detained  by  them 
till  he  could  obtain  fifty  talents  from  the  neighboring  cities  for  his 
ransom.  Immediately  on  obtaining  his  liberty,  he  manned  some 
Milesian  vessels,  overpowered  the  pii'ates,  and  conducted  them  as 
prisoners  to  Pergamus,  where  he  shortly  afterward  crucified  them 
— a  punishment  he  had  frequently  threatened  them  with  in  sport 
when  he  was  their  prisoner.  He  then  repaired  to  Rhodes,  where 
he  studied  under  Apollonius  for  a  short  time,  but  soon  afterward 
crossed  over  into  Asia,  on  the  outbreak  of  the  Mithridatic  war  in 
B.C.  74.  Here,  although  he  held  no  public  office,  he  collected 
troops  on  his  own  authority,  and  repulsed  the  commander  of  the 
king,  and  then  returned  to  Rome  in  the  same  year,  in  consequence 
of  having  been  elected  Pontiff  during  his  absence.  His  affable 
manners,  and,  still  more,  his  unbounded  liberality,  won  the  hearts 
of  the  people. 

Caesar  obtained  the  Qussstorship  in  B.C.  68.  In  this  year  he  lost 
his  aunt  Julia,  the  widow  of  Marius,  and  his  own  wife  Cornelia. 
He  pronounced  orations  over  both  of  them  in  the  forum,  in  which 
he  took  the  opportunity  of  passing  a  panegyric  upon  the  former 
leaders  of  the  popular  party.  At  the  funeral  of  his  aunt  he  caused 
the  images  of  Marius  to  be  carried  in  the  procession :  they  were 
welcomed  with  loud  acclamations  by  the  people,  who  were  delighted 
to  see  their  former  favorite  brought,  as  it  were,  into  public  again. 

C:rsar  warmly  supported  the  Gabinian   and  Manilian  Laws, 


216  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

which  bestowed  upon  Pompey  the  command  against  the  pirates 
and  Mithridates.  These  measures,  as  we  have  already  seen,  were 
opposed  by  the  aristocracy,  and  widened  still  farther  the  breach 
between  them  and  Pompey.  In  B.C.  G5  Caesar  was  Curule  JEdile 
along  with  M.  Bibulus,  and  still  farther  increased  his  popularity 
by  the  splendid  games  which  he  exhibited.  He  now  took  a  step 
which  openly  proclaimed  him  the  leader  of  the  Marian  party.  He 
caused  the  statues  of  Marius  and  the  Cimhrian  trophies,  which  had 
been  all  destroyed  by  Sulla,  to  be  privately  restored  and  placed  at 
night  in  the  Capitol.  In  the  morning  the  city  was  in  the  highest 
state  of  excitement ;  the  veterans  of  Marius  cried  with  joy  at  be- 
holding his  countenance  once  more,  and  greeted  Caesar  with  shouts 
of  applause.  Q.  Catulus  brought  the  conduct  of  Casar  before  the 
notice  of  the  Senate,  but  the  popular  excitement  was  so  great  that 
they  thought  it  better  to  let  the  matter  drop. 

In  Caesar's  ^Edileship  the  first  Catilinarian  conspiracy  occurred, 
and  from  this  time  his  history  forms  a  portion  of  that  of  the  times. 
But  before  passing  on,  the  early  life  of  another  distinguished  man, 
the  greatest  of  Roman  orators,  also  claims  our  notice. 

M.  TULLIUS  CICERO  was  born  at  Arpinum  in  B.C.  106,  and  con- 
sequently in  the  same  year  as  Pompey.  His  father  was  of  the 
Equestrian  order,  and  lived  upon  his  hereditary  estate  near  Arpi- 
num, but  none  of  his  ancestors  had  ever  held  any  of  the  offices  of 
state.  Cicero  was  therefore,  according  to  the  Roman  phraseology, 
a  New  Man  (see  p.  128).  He  served  his  first  and  only  campaign  in 
the  Social  War  (B.C.  89),  and  in  the  troubled  times  which  followed 
he  gave  himself  up  with  indefatigable  perseverance  to  those  studies 
which  were  essential  to  his  success  as  a  lawyer  and  orator.  When 
tranquillity  was  restored  by  the  final  discomfiture  of  the  Marian 
party,  he  came  forward  as  a  pleader  at  the  age  of  twenty-five.  The 
first  of  his  extant  speeches  in  a  civil  suit  is  that  for  P.  Quintius 
(B.C.  81) ;  the  first  delivered  upon  a  criminal  trial  was  that  in  de- 
fense of  Sex.  Roscius  of  Ameria,  who  was  charged  with  parricide 
by  Chrysogonus,  a  freedman  of  Sulla,  supported,  as  it  was  under- 
stood, by  the  influence  of  his  patron.  In  consequence  of  the  failure 
of  his  health,  Cicero  quitted  Rome  in  B.C.  79,  and  spent  two  years 
in  study  in  the  philosophical  and  rhetorical  schools  of  Athens  and 
Asia  Minor.  On  his  return  to  the  city  he  forthwith  took  his  sta- 
tion in  the  foremost  rank  of  judicial  orators,  and  ere  long  stood 
alone  in  acknowledged  pre-eminence ;  his  most  formidable  rivals 
— Hortensius,  eight  years  his  senior,  and  C.  Aurelius  Cotta,  who 
had  long  been  kings  of  the  bar — having  been  forced,  after  a  short 
but  sharp  contest  for  supremacy,  to  yield. 

Cicero's  reputation  and  popularity  already  stood  so  high  that  he 


B.C.  70-C5.  CICERO.— CATILINE.  217 

was  elected  Quaestor  (B.C.  7G),  although,  comparatively  speaking,  a 
stranger,  and  certainly  unsupported  by  any  powerful  family  inter- 
est. He  served  in  Sicily  under  Sex.  Peducaeus,  Praetor  of  Lily- 
ba:um.  In  B.C.  70  he  gained  great  renown  by  his  impeachment  of 
Verres  for  his  oppression  of  the  Sicilians,  whom  he  had  ruled  as 
Praetor  of  Syracuse  for  the  space  of  three  years  (B.C.  73-71).  The 
most  strenuous  exertions  were  made  by  Verres,  backed  by  some  of 
the  most  powerful  families,  to  wrest  the  case  out  of  the  hands  of 
Cicero,  who,  however,  defeated  the  attempt,  and  having  demanded 
and  been  allowed  110  days  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  evidence, 
he  instantly  set  out  for  Sicily,  which  he  traversed  in  less  than  two 
months,  and  returned  attended  by  all  the  necessary  witnesses.  An- 
other desperate  effort  was  made  by  Hortensius,  now  Consul  elect, 
who  was  counsel  for  the  defendant,  to  raise  up  obstacles  which 
might  have  the  effect  of  delaying  the  trial  until  the  commence- 
ment of  the  following  year ;  but  here  again  he  was  defeated  by  the 
promptitude  and  decision  of  his  opponent,  who  opened  the  case 
very  briefly,  proceeded  at  once  to  the  examination  of  the  witnesses 
and  the  production  of  the  depositions  and  other  papers,  which, 
taken  together,  constituted  a  mass  of  testimony  so  decisive  that 
Verres  gave  up  the  contest  as  hopeless,  and  retired  at  once  into 
exile  without  attempting  any  defense.  The  full  pleadings,  how- 
ever, which  were  to  have  been  delivered  had  the  trial  been  per- 
mitted to  run  its  ordinary  course,  were  subsequently  published  by 
Cicero. 

In  B.C.  C9  Cicero  was  JEdile,  and  in  G6  Praetor.  In  the  latter 
year  he  delivered  his  celebrated  address  to  the  people  in  favor  of 
the  Maniliau  Law.  Having  now  the  Consulship  in  view,  and 
knowing  that,  as  a  new  man,  he  must  expect  the  most  determined 
opposition  from  the  Nobles,  he  resolved  to  throw  himself  into  the 
arms  of  the  popular  party,  and  to  secure  the  friendship  of  Pompey, 
now  certainly  the  most  important  person  in  the  Kepublic. 

In  the  following  year  (B.C.  65)  the  first  conspiracy  of  Catiline 
occurred.  The  circumstances  of  the  times  were  favorable  to  a 
bold  and  unprincipled  adventurer.  A  widespread  feeling  of  dis- 
affection extended  over  the  whole  of  Italy.  The  veterans  of  Sulla 
had  already  squandered  their  ill-gotten  wealth,  and  longed  for  a 
renewal  of  those  scenes  of  blood  which  they  had  found  so  profit- 
able. The  multitudes  whose  estates  had  been  confiscated  and 
whose  relations  had  been  proscribed  were  eagerly  watching  for 
any  movement  which  might  give  them  a  chance  of  becoming  rob- 
bers and  murderers  in  their  turn.  The  younger  nobility,  ns  a  class, 
were  thoroughly  demoralized,  for  the  most  part  bankrupts  in  for- 
tune as  well  as  in  fame,  and  eager  for  any  change  which  might 


218  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

relieve  them  from  their  embarrassments.  The  rabble  were  restless 
and  discontented,  filled  with  envy  and  hatred  against  the  rich  and 
powerful.  Never  was  the  executive  weaker.  The  Senate  and 
Magistrates  were  wasting  their  energies  in  petty  disputes,  indiffer- 
ent to  the  interests  of  the  Republic.  Pompey,  at  the  head  of  all 
the  best  troops  of  the  Republic,  was  prosecuting  a  long-protracted 
war  in  the  East ;  there  was  no  army  in  Italy,  where  all  was  hushed 
in  a  treacherous  calm. 

Of  the  profligate  nobles  at  this  time  none  was  more  profligate 
than  L.  SERGIUS  CATILIJJA.  He  was  the  descendant  of  an  ancient 
patrician  family  which  had  sunk  into  poverty,  and  he  first  appears 
in  history  as  a  zealous  partisan  of  Sulla.  During  the  horrors  of 
the  proscription  he  killed  his  brother-in-law,  Q.  Cacilius,  and  is 
said  to  have  murdered  even  his  own  brother.  His  youth  was  spent 
in  the  open  indulgence  of  every  vice,  and  it  was  believed  that  he 
had  made  away  with  his  first  wife,  and  afterward  with  his  son,  in 
order  that  he  might  marry  the  profligate  Aurelia  Orestilla,  who 
objected  to  the  presence  of  a  grown-up  step-child.  Notwithstand- 
ing these  crimes,  he  acquired  great  popularity  among  the  younger 
nobles  by  his  agreeable  address  and  his  zeal  in  ministering  to  their 
pleasures.  He  possessed  extraordinary  powers  of  mind  and  body, 
and  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him  submitted  more  or  less  to 
the  ascendency  of  his  genius.  He  was  Praetor  in  B.C.  68 ;  was 
Governor  of  Africa  during  the  following  year ;  and  returned  to 
Rome  in  B.C.  66,  in  order  to  press  his  suit  for  the  Consulship.  The 
election  for  B.C.  65  was  carried  by  P.  Autronius  Paetus  and  P.  Cor- 
nelius Sulla,  both  of  whom  were  soon  after  convicted  of  bribery, 
and  their  places  supplied  by  their  competitors  and  accusers,  L.  Au- 
relius  Cotta  and  L.  Manlius  Torquatus.  Catiline,  who  was  desir- 
ous of  becoming  a  candidate,  had  been  disqualified  in  consequence 
of  an  impeachment  for  oppression  in  his  province  preferred  by  P. 
Clodius  Pulcher.  Exasperated  by  their  disappointment,  Autroni- 
us and  Catiline  formed  a  project,  along  with  Cn.  Calpurnius  Piso, 
another  profligate  yoi;ng  nobleman,  to  murder  the  new  Consuls 
upon  the  first  of  January,  when  offering  up  their  vows  in  the  Cap- 
itol, after  which  Autronius  and  Catiline  were  to  seize  the  fasces, 
and  Piso  was  to  be  dispatched  with  an  army  to  occupy  the  Spains. 
This  extraordinary  design  is  said  to  have  been  frustrated  solely  by 
the  impatience  of  Catiline,  who  gave  the  signal  prematurely  before 
the  whole  of  the  armed  agents  had  assembled. 

Encouraged  rather  th:in  disheartened  by  a  failure  which  had  so 
nearly  proved  a  triumph,  Catiline  was  soon  after  left  completely 
unfettered  by  his  acquittal  upon  trial  for  extortion,  a.  result  secured 
by  the  liberal  bribes  administered  to  the  accuser  as  well  as  to  the 


13.C7.  04.  CATILINE'S  CONSPIRACY.  219 

jury.  From  this  time  he  proceeded  more  systematically,  and  en- 
listed a  more  numerous  body  of  supporters.  In  the  course  of  B.C. 
64  he  had  enrolled  several  Senators  in  his  ranks,  among  others  P. 
Cornelius  Lcntulus  Sura,  who  had  been  Consul  in  B.C.  71,  and  C. 
Cornelius  Cethegus,  distinguished  throughout  by  his  impetuosity 
and  sanguinary  violence.  He  proposed  that  all  debts  should  be 
canceled,  that  the  most  wealthy  citizens  should  be  proscribed,  and 
that  all  offices  of  honor  and  emolument  should  be  divided  among, 
his  associates.  He  confidently  anticipated  that  he  should  be  elect- 
ed Consul  for  the  next  year  along  with  C.Antonius,  having  formed 
a  coalition  with  him  for  the  purpose  of  excluding  Cicero.  The 
orator,  however,  was  supported,  not  only  by  the  Equites  and  Pom- 
pey's  friends,  but  even  by  the  Senate,  who,  though  disliking  a  New 
Man,  were  compelled  to  give  him  their  support  in  order  to  exclude 
Catiline.  The  consequence  was  that  Cicero  and  Antonius  were 
returned,  the  former  nearly  unanimously,  the  latter  by  a  small  ma- 
jority over  Catiline.  As  soon  as  Cicero  entered  upon  his  Consul- 
ship he  renounced  his  connection  with  the  popular  party,  and  be- 
came a  stanch  supporter  of  the  aristocracy.  He  successfully  op- 
posed an  agrarian  law  proposed  by  the  Tribune  Rullus,  and  de- 
fended C.  Rabirius,  who  was  now  accused  by  the  Tribune  Labienus 
of  having  been  concerned  in  the  death  of  Saturninus  nearly  forty 
years  before.  Casar  took  an  active  part  in  both  these  proceedings. 
But  the  attention  of  Cicero  was  mainly  directed  to  Catiline's  con- 
spiracy. He  gained  over  his  colleague  Antonius  by  resigning  to 
him  the  province  of  Macedonia.  Meantime  he  became  acquaint- 
ed with  every  detail  of  the  plot  through  Fulvia,  the  mistress  of  Q. 
Curius,  one  of  Catiline's  intimate  associates.  Thus  informed,  Cic- 
ero called  a  meeting  of  the  Senate  on  the  21st  of  October,  when 
he  openly  denounced  Catiline,  charged  him  broadly  with  treason, 
and  asserted  that  the  28th  was  the  period  fixed  for  the  murder  of 
the  leading  men  in  the  Republic.  The  Senate  thereupon  invested 
the  Consuls  with  dictatorial  power.  The  Comitia  for  the  election 
of  the  Consuls  was  now  held.  Catiline,  again  a  candidate,  was 
again  rejected.  Driven  to  despair  by  this  fresh  disappointment, 
he  resolved  at  once  to  bring  matters  to  a  crisis.  On  the  night  of 
the  6th  of  November  he  summoned  a  meeting  of  the  ringleaders  at 
the  house  of  M.  Porcius  Lseca,  and  made  arrangements  for  an  im- 
mediate outbreak.  Cicero,  being  immediately  informed  of  what 
took  place,  summoned,  on  the  8th  of  November,  a  meeting  of  the 
Senate  in  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Stator,  and  there  delivered  the 
first  of  his  celebrated  orations  against  Catiline.  Catiline,  who  upon 
his  entrance  had  been  avoided  by  all,  and  was  sitting  alone  upon 
a  bench  from  which  every  one  had  shrunk,  rose  to  reply,  but  had 


220  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CIIAI-.  XXXI 

scarcely  commenced  when  his  words  were  drowned  by  the  shouts 
of  "  enemy"  and  "parricide"  which  burst  from  the  whole  assembly, 
and  he  rushed  forth  with  threats  and  curses  on  his  lips.  He  now 
resolved  to  strike  some  decisive  blow  before  troops  could  be  levied 
to  oppose  him,  and  accordingly,  leaving  the  chief  control  of  affairs 
at  Rome  in  the  hands  of  Lentulus  and  Cethegus,  he  set  forth  in 
the  dead  of  night,  and  proceeded  to  join  Manlius  at  Faesulje. 

On  the  9th,  when  the  flight  of  Catiline  was  known,  Cicero  de- 
livered his  second  speech,  which  was  addressed  to  the  people  in 
the  forum.  The  Senate  proceeded  to  declare  Catiline  and  Manlius 
public  enemies,  and  decreed  that  Antonius  should  go  forth  to  the 
war,  while  Cicero  should  remain  to  guard  the  city.  Cicero  was 
now  anxious  to  obtain  other  evidence,  besides  that  of  Fulvia,  which 
would  warrant  him  in  apprehending  the  conspirators  within  the 
walls.  This  was  fortunately  supplied  by  the  embassadors  of  the 
Allobroges,  who  were  now  at  Rome,  having  been  sent  to  seek  relief 
from  certain  real  or  alleged  grievances.  Their  suit,  however,  had 
not  prospered,  and  Lentulus,  conceiving  that  their  discontent  might 
be  made  available  for  his  own  purposes,  opened  a  negotiation  with 
them  and  disclosed  to  them  the  nature  of  the  plot.  But  they 
thought  it  more  prudent  to  reveal  all  to  Q.  Fabius  Sanga,  the  pa- 
tron of  their  state,  who  in  his  turn  acquainted  Cicero.  By  the  in- 
structions of  the  latter  the  embassadors  affected  great  zeal  in  the 
undertaking,  and  obtained  a  written  agreement  signed  by  Lentu- 
lus, Cethegus,  and  others.  They  quitted  Rome  soon  after  mid- 
night on  the  3d  of  December,  accompanied  by  one  T.  Volturcius, 
who  was  charged  with  dispatches  for  Catiline.  The  embassadors 
were  seized,  as  they  were  crossing  the  Mulvian  bridge,  by  two  of 
the  Prastors,  who  had  been  stationed  in  ambush  to  intercept  them. 

Cicero  instantly  summoned  Lentulus,  Cethegus,  and  the  other 
conspirators  to  his  presence.  Lentulus  being  Praetor,  the  Consul 
led  him  by  the  hand  to  the  Temple  of  Concord,  where  the  Senate 
was  already  met ;  the  rest  of  the  accused  followed  closely  guarded. 
Volturcius,  finding  escape  impossible,  agreed,  upon  his  own  per- 
sonal safety  being  insured,  to  make  a  full  confession.  His  state- 
ments were  confirmed  by  the  Allobroges,  and  the  testimony  was 
rendered  conclusive  by  the  signatures  of  the  ringleaders,  which 
they  were  unable  to  deny.  The  guilt  of  Lentulus,  Cethegus,  and 
seven  others  being  thus  established,  Lentulus  was  forced  to  abdi- 
cate his  office,  and  then,  with  the  rest,  was  consigned  to  the  charge 
of  certain  Senators,  who  became  responsible  for  their  appearance. 

These  circumstances,  as  they  had  occurred,  were  then  narrated 
by  Cicero  in  his  Third  Oration,  delivered  in  the  forum.  On  the 
nones  (5th)  of  December  the  Senate  was  again  summoned  to  de- 


B.C.  62.  DEATH  OF  CATILINE.  221 

termine  upon  the  fate  of  the  conspirators.  Caesar,  in  an  elaborate 
speech,  proposed  that  they  should  be  kept  in  confinement  in  the 
different  towns  of  Italy,  but  Cato  and  Cicero  strongly  advocated 
that  they  should  be  instantly  put  to  death.  Their  views  were 
adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  Senate,  and  a  decree  passed  to  that 
effect.  On  the  same  night  Lentulus  and  his  associates  were  stran- 
gled bv  the  common  executioner  in  the  Tullianum,  a  loathsoma 
dungeon  on  the  slope  of  the  Capitol. 

While  these  tilings  were  going  on  at  Rome,  Catiline  had  collect 
ed  a  force  amounting  to  two  legions,  although  not  above  one  fourth 
part  were  fully  equipped.  When  the  news  of  the  failure  of  the 
plot  at  Rome  reached  his  camp  many  deserted.  He  thereupon  at- 
tempted to  cross  the  Apennines  and  take  refuge  in  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
but  the  passes  were  strictly  guarded  by  Metellus  Celer  with  three 
legions.  Finding,  therefore,  that  escape  was  cut  off  in  front,  while 
Antonius  was  pressing  on  his  rear,  Catiline  determined,  as  a  last 
resource,  to  hazard  an  engagement.  Antonius,  in  consequence  of 
real  or  pretended  illness,  resigned  the  command  to  M.  Petreius,  a 
skillful  soldier.  The  battle  was  obstinate  and  bloody.  The  rebels 
fought  with  the  fury  of  despair ;  and  when  Catiline  saw  that  all 
was  lost,  he  charged  headlong  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight  and  fell 
sword  in  hand  (B.C.  62). 

Cicero  had  rendered  important  sen-ices  to  the  state,  and  enjoyed 
for  a  time  unbounded  popularity.  Catulus  in  the  Senate  and  Cato 
in  the  forum  hailed  him  as  the  "Father  of  his  Country  ;"  thanks- 
givings in  his  name  were  voted  to  the  gods ;  and  all  Italy  joined 
in  testifying  enthusiastic  admiration  and  gratitude.  Cicero's  ela- 
tion knew  no  bounds;  he  fancied  that  his  political  influence  was 
now  supreme,  and  looked  upon  himself  as  a  match  even  for  Pom- 
pey.  But  his  splendid  achievement  contained  the  germ  of  his  hu- 
miliation and  downfall.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  punish- 
ment inflicted  by  the  Senate  upon  Lentulus  and  his  associates  was 
a  violation  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Roman  Constitu- 
tion, which  declared  that  no  citizen  could  be  put  to  death  until  sen- 
tenced by  the  whole  body  of  the  people  assembled  in  their  Comi- 
tia,  and  for  this  act  Cicero,  as  the  presiding  magistrate,  was  held 
responsible.  It  was  in  vain  to  urge  that  the  Consuls  had  been 
armed  with  dictatorial  power;  the  Senate,  in  the  present  instance, 
assuming  to  themselves  judicial  functions  which  they  had  no  right 
to  exercise,  gave  orders  for  the  execution  of  a  sentence  which  they 
had  no  right  to  pronounce.  Nor  were  his  enemies  long  in  discov- 
ering this  vulnerable  point.  On  the  last  day  of  the  year,  when, 
according  to  established  custom,  he  ascended  the  Rostra  to  give  au 
account  to  the  people  of  the  events  of  his  Consulship,  Metellus  Ce> 


222  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXXL 

ler,  one  of  the  new  Tribunes,  forbade  him  to  speak,  exclaiming  that 
the  man  who  had  put  Roman  citizens  to  deatli  without  granting 
them  a  hearing  was  himself  unworthy  to  be  heard.  But  this  at- 
tack was  premature.  The  audience  had  not  yet  forgotten  their 
recent  escape ;  so  that,  when  Cicero  swore  with  a  loud  voice  that 
"he  had  saved  the  Republic  and  the  city  from  ruin,"  the  crowd 
.with  one  voice  responded  that  he  had  sworn  truly. 

It  was  rumored  that  many  other  eminent  men  had  been  privy  to 
Catiline's  conspiracy.  Among  others,  the  names  of  Crassus  and 
Caesar  were  most  frequently  mentioned ;  but  the  participation  of 
either  of  these  men  in  such  an  enterprise  seems  most  improbable. 
The  interests  of  Crassus  were  opposed  to  such  an  adventure ;  his 
vast  wealth  was  employed  in  a  variety  of  speculations  which  would 
have  been  ruined  in  a  general  overthrow,  while  he  had  not  the  en- 
ergy or  ability  to  seize  and  retain  the  helm  in  the  confusion  that 
would  have  ensued.  Of  Caesar's  guilt  there  is  no  satisfactory  evi- 
dence, and  it  is  improvable  that  so  keen-sighted  a  man  would  have 
leagued  with  such  a  desperate  adventurer  as  Catiline.  Cato,  in 
his  speech  respecting  the  fate  of  the  conspirators,  hinted  that  Cae- 
sar wished  to  spare  them  because  he  was  a  partner  of  their  guilt ; 
and  in  the  following  year  (B.C.  62),  when  Caesar  was  Praetor,  L.  Vet. 
tius,  who  had  been  one  of  Cicero's  informers,  openly  charged  him 
with  being  a  party  to  the  plot.  Thereupon  Caesar  called  upon  Cic- 
ero to  testify  that  he  had  of  his  own  accord  given  the  Consul  evi- 
dence respecting  the  conspiracy ;  and  so  complete  was  his  vindica- 
tion that  Vettius  was  thrown  into  prison. 


Coin  of  Pompey. 


Julius  Csesar. 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

FROM  POMFEY'S  RETURN  FROM  THE  EAST  TO  CICERO'S  BANISH- 
MENT AND  RECALL.      B.C.  62-57. 

POMPEY,  as  we  have  already  seen,  reached  Italy  in  B.C.  62.  It 
was  generally  feared  that  he  would  seize  the  supreme  power,  but 
he  soon  calmed  these  apprehensions  by  disbanding  his  army  im- 
mediately after  landing  at  Brundusium.  He  did  not,  however,  en- 
ter Rome  in  triumph  till  the  30th  of  September,  B.C.  61.  The  tri- 
umph lasted  two  days,  and  surpassed  in  splendor  every  spectacle 
that  Rome  had  yet  seen.  The  tablets  carried  in  the  procession,  on 
which  his  victories  were  emblazoned,  declared  that  he  had  taken 
1000  strong  fortresses,  900  towns,  and  800  ships ;  that  he  had 
founded  39  cities;  that  he  had  raised  the  revenue  of  the  Roman 
people  from  59  millions  to  85  millions ;  and  that  he  had  brought 
into  the  public  treasury  20,000  talents.  Before  his  triumphal  car 
walked  324  captive  princes. 

With  this  triumph  the  first  and  most  glorious  part  of  Pompey's 
life  may  be  said  to  have  ended.  Hitherto  he  had  been  employed 
almost  exclusively  in  war;  but  now  he  was  called  upon  to  play  a 
prominent  part  in  the  civil  commotions  of  the  Republic — a  part  for 
which  neither  his  natural  talents  nor  his  previous  habits  had  in  the 


224  HISTORY  OF  HOME.          CHAP.  XXXII. 

least  fitted  him.  From  the  death  of  Sulla  to  the  present  time,  a 
period  of  nearly  twenty  years,  he  had  been  unquestionably  the  first 
man  in  the  Roman  world,  but  he  did  not  retain  much  longer  this 
proud  position,  and  soon  discovered  that  the  genius  of  Caesar  had 
reduced  him  to  a  second  place  in  the  state.  It  would  seem  as  if 
Pompey,  on  his  return  to  Rome,  hardly  knew  to  which  party  to 
attach  himself.  He  had  been  appointed  to  the  command  against 
the  pirates  and  Mithridates  in  opposition  to  the  aristocracy,  and 
they  still  regarded  him  with  jealousy  and  distrust.  He  could  not, 
therefore,  ally  himself  to  them,  especially  too  as  some  of  their  most 
influential  leaders,  such  as  M.  Crassus  and  L.  Lucullus,  were  his 
personal  enemies.  At  the  same  time  he  seems  to  have  been  in- 
disposed to  unite  himself  to  the  popular  party,  which  had  risen 
into  importance  during  his  absence  in  the  East,  and  over  which 
Caesar  possessed  unbounded  influence.  But  the  object  which  en- 
gaged the  immediate  attention  of  Pompey  was  to  obtain  from  the 
Senate  a  ratification  of  his  acts  in  Asia,  and  an  assignment  of 
lands  which  he  had  promised  to  his  veterans.  In  order  to  secure 
this  object,  he  had  purchased  the  Consulship  for  one  of  his  officers, 
L.  Afranius,  who  was  elected  with  Q.  Metellus  for  B.C.  GO.  But  L. 
Afranius  was  a  man  of  slender  ability;  and  the  Senate,  glad  of  an 
opportunity  to  put  an  affront  upon  a  person  whom  they  both  feared 
and  hated,  resolutely  refused  to  sanction  Pompey's  measures  in 
Asia.  This  was  the  unwiscst  thing  they  could  have  done.  If  they 
had  known  their  real  interests,  they  would  have  yielded  to  all  Pom- 
pey's wishes,  and  have  sought  by  every  means  to  win  him  over  to 
their  side,  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  growing  and  more  dangerous 
influence  of  Cassar.  But  their  short-sighted  policy  threw  Pompey 
into  Caesar's  arms,  and  thus  sealed  the  downfall  of  their  party. 
Pompey  was  resolved  to  fulfill  the  promises  he  had  made  to  his 
Asiatic  clients  and  his  veteran  troops. 

Cffisar  had  returned  from  Spain  in  the  middle  of  this  year.  He 
had  been  in  that  province  for  one  year  as  Propraetor,  during  which 
time  ho  displayed  that  military  ability  which  was  soon  to  be  ex- 
hibited on  a  still  more  conspicuous  field.  He  subdued  the  mount- 
ainous tribes  of  Lusitania,  took  the  town  of  Brigantium  in  the 
country  of  the  Galloeci,  and  gained  many  other  advantages  ov«r 
the  enemy.  His  troops  saluted  him  as  Imperator,  and  the  Senate 
honored  him  by  a  public  thanksgiving.  He  now  laid  claim  to  a 
triumph,  and  at  tlie  same  time  wished  to  become  a  candidate  for 
the  Consulship.  For  the  latter  purpose  his  presence  in  the  city 
was  necessary;  but,  as  he  could  not  enter  the  city  without  relin- 
quishing his  triumph,  he  applied  to  the  Senate  to  be  exempted  from 
the  usual  law,  and  to  become  a  candi'\itc  in  his  absence.  As  this 


B.C.  GO.  (LESAll  ELECTED  CONSUL.  225 

was  refused,  he  at  once  relinquished  his  triumph,  entered  the  city, 
and  became  a  candidate  for  the  Consulship,  lie  was  elected  with- 
out difficulty,  but  the  aristocracy  succeeded  in  associating  with  him 
in  the  Consulship  M.  Bibulus,  who  belonged  to  the  opposite  party, 
and  who  had  likewise  been  his  colleague  in  the  jEdileship  and 
Proctorship.  m 

Cicsar  now  represented  to  Pompey  the  importance  of  detaching 
from  the  aristocracy  M.  Crassus,  who,  by  his  connections  and  im- 
mense wealth,  possessed  great  political  influence.  Pompey  and 
Crassus  had  for  a  long  time  past  been  deadly  enemies,  but  they 
were  now  reconciled,  and  the  three  entered  into  an  agreement  to 
divide  the  power  between  themselves.  This  first  Triumvirate,  as 
it  is  called,  was  therefore  merely  a  private  arrangement  between 
the  three  most  powerful  men  at  Rome,  which  remained  a  secret  till 
the  proceedings  of  Caesar  in  his  Consulship  showed  that  he  was 
supported  by  a  power  against  which  it  was  in  vain  for  his  enemies 
to  struggle. 

As  soon  as  Caesar  had  entered  upon  his  Consai&hip  he  proposed 
an  agrarian  law  for  the  division  of  the  rich  Campanian  land.  The 
execution  of  the  law  was  to  be  intrusted  to  a  board  of  twenty  com- 
missioners. The  opposition  of  the  aristocratical  party  was  in  vain. 
Pompey  and  Crassus  spoke  in  favor  of  the  law ;  and  the  former 
declared  that  he  would  bring  both  sword  and  buckler  against  those 
who  used  the  sword.  On  the  day  on  which  it  was  put  to  the  vote, 
Bibulus  and  the  other  members  of  the  aristocracy  were  driven  out 
of  the  forum  by  force  of  arms :  the  law  was  carried,  the  commis- 
sioners appointed,  and  about  20,000  citizens,  comprising,  of  course, 
a  great  number  of  Pompey's  veterans,  received  allotments  subse- 
quently. Bibulus,  despairing  of  being  able  to  offer  any  farther  re- 
sistance to  Caesar,  shut  himself  up  in  his  own  house,  and  did  not 
appear  again  in  public  till  the  expiration  of  his  Consulship. 

Caesar  obtained  from  the  people  a  ratification  of  all  Pompey's 
acts  in  Asia,  and,  to  cement  their  union  more  closely,  gave  his 
only  daughter  Julia  in  marriage  to  Pompey.  His  next  step  was  to 
gain  over  the  Equites,  who  had  rendered  efficient  service  to  Cicero 
in  his  Consulship,  and  had  hitherto  supported  the  aristocratical 
party.  An  excellent  opportunity  now  occurred  for  accomplishing 
this  object.  In  their  eagerness  to  obtain  the  farming  of  the  public 
taxes  in  Asia,  the  Equites  had  agreed  to  pay  too  large  a  sum,  and 
accordingly  petitioned  the  Senate  for  more  favorable  terms.  This, 
however,  had  been  opposed  by  Metellus  Celer,  Cato,  and  others  of 
the  aristocracy ;  and  Casar,  therefore,  now  carried  a  law  to  re- 
lieve the  Equites  from  one  third  of  the  sum  which  they  had  agreed 
to  pay.  Having  thus  gratified  the  people,  the  Equites,  and  Pom- 
P 


226  HISTORY  OF  ROME.          CHAP.  XXXII 

pcy,  he  was  easily  able  to  obtain  for  himself  the  provinces  which 
he  wished. 

It  is  not  attributing  any  extraordinary  foresight  to  Casar  to  sup- 
pose that  he  already  saw  that  the  struggle  between  the  different 
parties  at  Rome  must  eventually  be  terminated  by  the  sword.  The 
same  causes  avere  still  in  operation  which  had  led  to  the  civil  war* 
between  Marius  and  Sulla;  and  he  was  well  aware  that  the  aris- 
tocracy would  not  hesitate  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  force  if  they 
should  ever  succeed  in  detaching  Pompey  from  his  interests.  It 
was  therefore  of  the  first  importance  for  him  to  obtain  an  army 
which  he  might  attach  to  himself  by  victories  and  rewards.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  induced  the  Tribune  Vatinius  to  propose  a  bill  to  the 
people  granting  him  the  provinces  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  and  Illyricnm 
for  five  years  (B.C.  58-54).  Transalpine  Gaul  was  shortly  after- 
ward added.  Caisar  chose  the  Gallic  provinces,  as  he  would  thus 
be  able  to  pass  the  winter  in  Italy  and  keep  up  his  communication 
with  the  city,  while  the  disturbed  state  of  Farther  Gaul  promised 
him  sufficient  materials  for  engaging  in  a  series  of  wars  in  which 
he  might  employ  an  army  that  would  afterward  be  devoted  to  his 
purposes.  In  addition  to  these  considerations,  Caesar  was  also  ac- 
tuated by  the  ambition  of  subduing  forever  that  nation  which  had 
once  sacked  Rome,  and  which  had  been,  from  the  earliest  times, 
more  or  less  an  object  of  dread  to  the  Roman  state. 

The  Consuls  of  the  following  year  (B.C.  58)  were  L.  Calpurnius 
Piso  and  A.  Gabinius.  Piso  was  Caesar's  father-in-law,  and  Ga- 
binius  in  his  Tribunate  had  proposed  the  law  conferring  upon  Pom- 
pey the  command  against  the  pirates.  Csesar  saw  that  it  was  evi- 
dent they  would  support  whatever  the  Triumvirs  might  wish.  Cic- 
ero was  now  threatened  with  destruction. 

In  B.C.  62,  while  the  wife  of  Caesar  was  celebrating  in  the  house 
of  her  husband,  then  Praetor  and  Pontifex  Maximus,  the  rites  of 
the  Bona  Dea,  from  which  all  male  creatures  were  excluded,  it  was 
discovered  that  P.  Clodius  Pulcher,  a  profligate  noble,  whom  we 
have  seen  inciting  the  army  of  Lucullus  to  insurrection,  had  found 
his  way  into  the  mansion  disguised  in  woman's  apparel,  and,  hav- 
ing been  detected,  had  made  his  escape  by  the  help  of  a  female 
slave.  The  matter  was  laid  before  the  Senate,  and  by  them  re- 
ferred to  the  members  of  the  Pontifical  College,  who  passed  a  reso- 
lution that  sacrilege  had  been  committed.  Caesar  forthwith  di- 
vorced his  wife.  Clodius  was  impeached  and  brought  to  trial.  In 
defense  he  pleaded  an  alibi,  offering  to  prove  that  he  was  at  Inter- 
amna-at  the  very  time  when  the  crime  was  said  to  have  been  com- 
mitted ;  but  Cicero  came  forward  as  a  witness,  and  swore  that  he 
had  met  and  spokca  to  Clodius  in  Rome  on  the  day  in  question. 


B.C.  58.  BANISHMENT  OF  CICEItO.  2^7 

la  spite  of  this  decisive  testimony,  and  the  evident  guilt  of  the 
accused,  the  Judices  pronounced  him  innocent  by  a  majority  of 
voices  (B.C.  Gl).  Clodius  now  vowed  deadly  vengeance  against 
Cicero.  To  accomplish  his  purpose  more  readily,  he  determined 
to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Tribunate,  but  for  this  it  was  neces- 
sary, in  the  first  place,  that  he  should  be  adopted  into  a  plebeian 
family  by  means  of  a  special  law.  This,  after  protracted  opposi- 
tion, was  at  length  accomplished  through  the  interference  of  the 
Triumvirs,  and  he  was  elected  Tribune  for  B.C.  58. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Clodius,  after  entering  upon  office,  was 
to  propose  a  bill  interdicting  from  fire  and  water  any  one  who 
should  be  found  to  have  put  a  Koman  citizen  to  death  untried. 
Cicero  changed  his  attire,  and,  assuming  the  garb  of  one  accused, 
went  round  the  Forum  soliciting  the  compassion  of  all  whom  he 
met.  For  a  brief  period  public  sympathy  was  awakened.  A  large 
number  of  the  Senate  and  the  Equites  appeared  also  in  mourning, 
and  the  better  portion  of  the  citizens  seemed  resolved  to  espouse 
his  cause.  But  all  demonstrations  of  such  feelings  were  promptly 
repressed  by  Piso  and  Gabinius.  Cassar  had  previously  made  over- 
tures to  Cicero,  which  the  orator,  overrating  his  influence  and  re- 
lying upon  the  support  of  Pompey,  had  rejected.  The  Triumvirs 
now  left  him  to  his  fate,  and  Cicero,  giving  way  to  despair,  quitted 
Rome  at  the  beginning  of  April  (B.C.  58),  and  reached  Brundusium 
about  the  middle  of  the  month.  From  thence  he  crossed  over  to 
Greece.  The  instant  that  the  departure  of  Cicero  became  known, 
a  law  was  passed  pronouncing  his  banishment,  forbidding  any  one 
to  entertain  or  harbor  him,  and  denouncing  as  a  public  enemy  who- 
soever should  take  any  steps  toward  procuring  his  recall.  His 
mansion  on  the  Palatine,  and  his  villas  at  Tusculum  and  Formiie, 
were  at  the  same  time  given  over  to  plunder  and  destruction. 
Clodius,  having  thus  gratified  his  hatred,  did  not  care  to  consult 
any  longer  the  views  of  the  Triumvirs.  He  restored  Tigranes  to 
liberty,  whom  Pompey  had  kept  in  confinement,  ridiculed  the  great 
Imperator  before  the  people,  and  was  accused  of  making  an  attempt 
upon  his  life.  Pompey,  in  revenge,  resolved  to  procui-e  the  recall 
of  Cicero  from  banishment,  and  was  thus  brought  again  into  some 
friendly  connections  with  the  aristocratical  party.  The  new  Con- 
suls (B.C.  57)  were  favorable  to  Cicero;  but,  though  Clodius  was 
no  longer  in  office,  he  had  several  partisans  among  the  Tribunes 
who  offered  the  most  vehement  opposition  to  the  restoration  of  his 
great  enemy.  One  of  the  chief  supporters  of  Cicero  was  the  Trib- 
une T.  Annius  Milo,  a  man  as  unprincipled  and  violent  as  Clodius 
himself.  He  opposed  force  to  force,  and  at  the  head  of  a  band  of 
gladiators  attacked  the  hired  ruffians  of  Clodius.  The  streets  of 


228 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


CHAP.  XXXIL 


Rome  were  the  scenes  of  almost  daily  conflicts  between  the  lead- 
ers of  these  assassins.  At  length  the  Senate,  with  the  full  appro- 
bation of  Pompey,  determined  to  invite  the  voters  from  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  Italy  to  repair  to  Rome  and  assist  in  carrying  a  law 
for  the  recall  of  Cicero.  Accordingly,  on  the  4th  of  August,  the 
bill  was  passed  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  On  the  same  day 
Cicero  quitted  Dyrrhachium,  and  crossed  over  to  Brundusium. 
He  received  deputations  and  congratulatory  addresses  from  all  the 
towns  on  the  line  of  the  Appian  Way ;  and  having  arrived  at  Rome 
on  the  4th  of  September,  a  vast  multitude  poured  forth  to  meet 
him,  while  the  crowd  rent  the  air  with  acclamations  as  he  passed 
through  the  Forum  and  ascended  the  Capitol  to  render  thanks  to 
Jupiter  (B.C.  57). 


Temple  of  Hercules  at  Home. 


Temple  of  Nemausus  (Nimcs),  now  called  the  Maison  CarrSe, 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

C/ESAK'S  CAMPAIGNS  IN  GAUL.     B.C.  58-50. 

CAESAR  set  out  for  his  province  immediately  after  Cicero  had 
gone  into  exile  (is.c.  58).  During  the  next  nine  years  he  was  oc- 
cupied with  the  subjugation  of  Gaul.  In  this  time  he  conquered 
the  whole  of  Transalpine  Gaul,  which  had  hitherto  been  independ- 
ent of  the  Romans,  with  the  exception  of  the  part  called  Provincia. 
Twice  he  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  carried  the  terror  of  the  Roman 
arms  beyond  that  river.  Twice  he  landed  in  Britain,  which  had 
been  hitherto  unknown  to  the  Romans.  We  can  only  offer  a  very 
brief  sketch  of  the  principal  events  of  each  year. 

First  Campaign,  B.C.  58. — Cffisar  left  Rome  toward  the  latter  end 
of  April,  and  arrived  in  Geneva  in  eight  days.  His  first  campaign 
was  against  the  Helvetii,  a  Gallic  people  situated  to  the  north  of 
the  Lake  of  Geneva,  and  between  the  Rhine  and  Mount  Jura. 
This  people,  quitting  their  homes,  had  passed  through  the  country 
of  the  Sequani,  and  were  plundering  the  territories  of  the  JEdui. 
Three  out  of  their  four  clans  had  already  crossed  the  Arar  (Saone) ; 
but  the  fourth,  which  was  still  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  was 
surprised  by  Ca3sar  and  cut  to  pieces.  He  then  threw  a  bridge 
across  the  Arar,  followed  them  cautiously  for  some  days,  and  at 
length  fought  a  pitched  battle  with  them  near  the  town  of  Bibracte 
(Auturi).  The  Helvetii  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter,  and 
the  remnant  compelled  to  return  to  their  former  homes. 

This  great  victory  raised  Caesar's  fame  among  the  various  tribes 
of  Gauls,  and  the  ^Edui  solicited  his  assistance  against  Ariovistus, 


230  HISTORY  OF  HOME.         CHAP.  XXXIIL 

a  German  king  who  had  invaded  Gaul,  and  was  constantly  bring- 
ing over  the  Rhine  fresh  swarms  of  Germans.  Caesar  command- 
ed Ariovistus  to  abstain  from  introducing  any  more  Germans  into 
Gaul,  to  restore  the  hostages  to  the  ^Edui,  and  not  to  attack  the 
latter  or  their  allies.  A  haughty  answer  was  returned  to  these 
commands,  and  both  parties  prepared  for  war.  Caesar  advanced 
northward  through  the  country  of  the  Sequani,  took  possession  of 
Vesontio  (Besanfon),  an  important  town  on  the  Dubis  (JJoubs),  and 
some  days  afterward  fought  a  decisive  battle  with  Ariovistus,  who 
suffered  a  total  defeat,  and  fled  with  the  remains  of  his  army  to  the 
Rhine,  a  distance  of  fifty  miles.  Only  a  very  few,  and,  among  the 
rest,  Ariovistus  himself,  crossed  the  river ;  the  rest  were  cut  to 
pieces  by  the  Roman  cavalry. 

Second  Campaign,  B.C.  57. — The  following  year  was  occupied 
with  the  Belgic  war.  Alarmed  at  Caesar's  success,  the  various 
Belgic  tribes  which  dwelt  between  the  Sequana  (Seine)  and  the 
Rhine,  and  were  the  most  warlike  of  all  the  Gauls,  had  entered  into 
a  confederacy  to  oppose  him,  and  had  raised  an  army  of  300,000 
men.  Caesar  opened  the  campaign  by  marching  into  the  country 
of  the  Remi,  who  submitted  at  his  approach.  He  then  crossed  the 
Axona  (Aisne),  and  pitched  his  camp  in  a  strong  position  on  the 
right  bank.  The  enemy  soon  began  to  suffer  from  want  of  pro- 
visions, and  they  came  to  the  resolution  of  breaking  up  their  vast 
army,  and  retiring  to  their  own  territories.  Hitherto  Caesar  had 
remained  in  his  intrenchments,  but  he  now  broke  up  from  his  quar- 
ters and  resumed  the  offensive.  The  Suessiones,  the  Bellovaci, 
and  Ambiaui  were  subdued  in  succession,  or  surrendered  of  their 
own  accord ;  but  a  more  formidable  task  awaited  him  when  he 
came  to  the  Nervii,  the  most  warlike  of  all  the  Belgic  tribes.  In 
their  country,  near  the  River  Sabis  (Sambre),  the  Roman  army 
was  surprised  by  the  enemy  while  engaged  in  fortifying  the  camp. 
The  attack  of  the  Nervii  was  so  unexpected,  that  before  the  Ro- 
mans could  form  in  rank  the  enemy  was  in  their  midst :  the  Ro- 
man soldiers  began  to  give  way,  and  the  battle  seemed  entirely  lost. 
Caesar  freely  exposed  his  own  person  in  the  first  line  of  the  battle, 
and  discharged  alike  the  duties  of  a  brave  soldier  and  an  able  gen- 
eral. His  exertions  and  the  discipline  of  the  Roman  troops  at 
length  triumphed,  and  the  Nervii  were  defeated  with  such  immense 
slaughter,  that  out  of  60,000  fighting  men  only  500  remained  in 
the  state.  When  the  Senate  received  the  dispatches  of  Caesar  an- 
nouncing this  victory,  they  decreed  a  public  thanksgiving  of  fifteen 
days — a  distinction  which  had  never  yet  been  granted  to  any  one. 

Third  Campaign,  B.C.  56. — In  the  third  campaign  Caesar  com- 
pleted the  subjugation  of  Gaul.  He  conducted  in  person  a  naval 


B.C.5G-65.     CESAR'S  CAMPAIGNS  IN  GAUL.  231 

war  against  the  Veneti,  the  inhabitants  of  the  modern  Brittany, 
and,  by  means  of  his  lieutenants,  conquered  the  remaining  tribes 
who  still  held  out.  In  the  later  part  of  the  summer  Cicsar  marched 
against  the  Morini  and  Menapii  (in  the  neighborhood  of  Calais 
and  Boulogne).  Thus  all  Gaul  had  been  apparently  reduced  to 
subjection  in  three  years ;  but  the  spirit  of  the  people  was  yet  un- 
broken, and  they  only  waited  for  an  opportunity  to  rise  against  their 
conquerors. 

Fourth  Campaign,  B.C.  55. — In  the  following  year  Caesar  determ- 
ined to  attack  the  Germans.  The  Gauls  had  suffered  too  much  in 
the  last  three  campaigns  to  make  any  farther  attempt  against  the 
Romans  at  present ;  but  Caesar's  ambition  would  not  allow  him  to 
be  idle.  Fresh  wars  must  be  undertaken  to  employ  his  troops  in 
active  service.  Two  German  tribes,  the  Usipetes  and  the  Tench- 
theri,  had  been  driven  out  of  their  own  country  by  the  Suevi,  and 
had  crossed  the  Rhine  with  the  intention  of  settling  in  Gaul. 
This,  however,  Caesar  was  resolved  to  prevent,  and  accordingly  pre- 
pared to  attack  them.  The  Germans  opened  negotiations  with 
him,  but,  while  these  were  going  on,  a  body  of  their  cavalry  de- 
feated Cesar's  Gallic  horse.  On  the  next  day  all  the  German 
chiefs  came  into  Caesar's  camp  to  apologize  for  what  they  had 
done ;  but  Cajsar  detained  them,  and  straightway  led  his  troops  to 
attack  the  enemy.  Deprived  of  their  leaders  and  taken  by  sur- 
prise, the  Germans,  after  a  feeble  resistance,  took  to  flight,  and 
were  almost  all  destroyed  by  the  Roman  cavalry.  After  this  vic- 
tory Caesar  resolved  to  cross  the  Rhine,  in  order  to  strike  terror 
into  the  Germans.  In  ten  days  he  built  a  bridge  of  boats  across  the 
river,  probably  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cologne ;  and  after  spend- 
ing eighteen  days  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Rhine,  and  ravaging 
the  country  of  the  Sigambri,  he  returned  to  Gaul  and  broke  down 
the  bridge. 

Although  the  greater  part  of  the  summer  was  now  gone,  Cffisar 
resolved  to  invade  Britain.  His  object  in  undertaking  this  expe- 
dition at  such  a  late  period  of  the  year  was  more  to  obtain  some 
knowledge  of  the  island  from  personal  observation  than  with  any 
view  to  permanent  conquest  at  present.  He  accordingly  took  with 
him  only  two  legions,  with  which  he  sailed  from  the  port  Itius 
(probably  Witsand,  between  Calais  and  Boulogne),  and  effected  a 
landing  somewhere  near  the  South  Foreland,  after  a  severe  strug- 
gle with  the  natives.  Several  of  the  British  tribes  hereupon  sent 
offers  of  submission  to  Cassar  ;  but,  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  a 
great  part  of  the  Roman  fleet  a  few  days  afterward,  they  took  up 
arms  again.  Being,  however,  defeated,  they  again  sent  offers  of 
submission  to  Caesar,  who  simply  demanded  double  the  number  of 


282  HISTORY  OF  ROME.         CHAP.  XXXIII. 

hostages  he  had  originally  required,  as  he  was  anxious  to  return  to 
Gauf  before  the  autumnal  equinox. 

The  news  of  these  victories  over  the  Germans  and  far-distant 
Britons  was  received  at  Rome  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  The 
Senate  voted  a  public  thanksgiving  of  twenty  days,  notwithstand- 
ing the  opposition  of  Cato,  who  declared  that  Caesar  ought  to  be  de- 
livered up  to  the  Usipetes  and  Tenchtheri,  to  atone  for  his  treach- 
ery in  seizing  the  sacred  persons  of  embassadors. 

Fifth  Campaign,  B.C.  54. — The  greater  part  of  Caesar's  fifth  cam- 
paign  was  occupied  with  his  second  invasion  of  Britain.  He  sailed 
from  the  port  Itius  with  an  army  of  five  legions,  and  landed,  with- 
out opposition,  at  the  same  place  as  in  the  former  year.  The  Brit- 
ish states  had  intrusted  the  supreme  command  to  Cassivellaunus, 
n  chief  whose  territories  were  divided  from  the  maritime  states  by 
the  River  Tamesis  (Thames).  The  Britons  bravely  opposed  the 
progress  of  the  invaders,  but  were  defeated  in  a  series  of  engage- 
ments. Caesar  crossed  the  Thames  above  London,  probably  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Kingston,  took  the  town  of  Cassivellaunus,  and 
conquered  great  part  of  the  counties  of  Essex  and  Middlesex.  In 
consequence  of  these  disasters,  Cassivellaunus  sued  for  peace;  and 
after  demanding  hostages,  and  settling  the  tribute  which  Britain 
should  pay  yearly  to  the  Roman  people,  Caesar  returned  to  Gaul 
toward  the  latter  part  of  the  summer.  He  gained  no  more  by  his 
second  invasion  of  Britain  than  by  his  first.  He  had  penetrated, 
it  is  true,  farther  into  the  country,  but  had  left  no  garrisons  or  mil- 
itary establishments  behind  him,  and  the  people  obeyed  the  Ro- 
mans as  little  afterward  as  they  had  done  before. 

In  consequence  of  the  great  scarcity  of  corn  in  Gaul,  Caesar  was 
obliged  to  divide  his  forces,  and  station  his  legions  for  the  wintet 
in  different  parts.  This  seemed  to  the  Gauls  a  favorable  opportu- 
nity for  recovering  their  lost  independence  and  destroying  their 
conquerors.  The  Eburones,  a  Gallic  people  between  the  Meuso 
and  the  Rhine,  near  the  modern  Tongres,  destroyed  the  detach- 
ment under  the  command  of  T.  Titurius  Sabinus  and  L.  Auruncu- 
leius  Cotta.  They  next  attacked  the  camp  of  Q.  Cicero,  the  broth- 
er of  the  orator,  who  was  stationed  among  the  Nervii.  Cicero  re- 
pulsed the  enemy  in  all  their  attempts,  till  he  was  at  length  re- 
lieved by  Caesar  in  person,  who  came  to  his  assistance  with  two 
legions  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  dangerous  position  of  his  legate. 
The  forces  of  the  enemy,  which  amounted  to  60,000,  were  defeated 
by  Caesar,  who  then  joined  Cicero,  and  praised  him  and  his  men  for 
the  bravery  they  had  shown. 

Sixth  Campaign,  B.C.  53. — In  the  next  year  the  Gauls  again  took 
up  arms,  and  entered  into  a  most  formidable  conspiracy  to  recover 


B.C.  53.        CESAR'S  CAMPAIGNS  IN  GAUL.  233 

their  independence.  The  destruction  of  the  Roman  troops  tinder 
Sabimis  and  Cotta,  and  the  unsettled  state  of  Gaul  during  the  win- 
ter, had  led  Ca;sar  to  apprehend  a  general  rising  of  the  natives ; 
and  he  had  accordingly  levied  two  new  legions  in  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
and  obtained  one  from  Pompey,  who  was  remaining  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Rome  as  Proconsul  with  the  imperium.  Being  thus  at 
the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  he  was  able  to  subdue  the  tribes  that 
revolted,  and  soon  compelled  the  Nervii,  Senones,  Carnutes,  Mena- 
pii,  and  Treviri  to  return  to  obedience.  But  as  the  Treviri  had 
been  supported  by  the  Germans,  he  crossed  the  Rhine  again  a  little 
above  the  spot  where  he  had  passed  over  two  years  before,  and, 
after  receiving  the  submission  of  the  Ubii,  ravaged  the  country  of 
the  Suevi.  On  his  return  to  Gaul  he  laid  waste  the  country  of  tho 
Eburones  with  fire  and  sword.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  campaign 
he  prosecuted  a  strict  inquiry  into  the  revolt  of  the  Senones  and 
Carnutes,  and  caused  Acco,  who  had  been  the  chief  ringleader  in 
the  conspiracy,  to  be  put  to  death. 

Seventh  Campaign,  B.C.  52. — The  unsuccessful  issue  of  last  year's 
revolt  had  not  yet  damped  the  spirits  of  the  Gauls.  The  execu- 
tion of  Acco  had  frightened  all  the  chiefs,  as  every  one  feared  that 
his  turn  might  come  next ;  the  hatred  of  the  Roman  yoke  was  in- 
tense ;  and  thus  all  the  materials  were  ready  for  a  general  confla- 
gration. It  was  first  kindled  by  the  Carnutes,  and  in  a  short  time 
it  spread  from  district  to  district  till  almost  the  whole  of  Gaul  was 
in  flames.  Even  the  .ZEdui,  who  had  been  hitherto  the  faithful  al- 
lies of  the  Romans,  and  had  assisted  them  in  all  their  wars,  subse- 
quently joined  the  general  revolt.  At  the  head  of  the  insurrection 
was  Vercingetorix,  a  young  man  of  noble  family  belonging  to  the 
Arverni,  and  by  far  the  ablest  general  that  Cassar  had  yet  encoun- 
tered. Never  before  had  the  Gauls  been  so  united :  Caesar's  con- 
quests of  the  last  six  years  seemed  to  be  now  entirely  lost.  The 
campaign  of  this  year,  therefore,  was  by  far  the  most  arduous  that 
Caesar  had  yet  carried  on ;  but  his  genius  triumphed  over  every  ob- 
stacle, and  rendered  it  the  most  brilliant  of  all.  He  concentrated 
his  forces  with  incredible  rapidity,  and  lost  no  time  in  attacking 
the  chief  towns  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Vellaunodunum  (in 
the  country  of  Chateau-London),  Genabum  (Orleans),  and  Novio- 
dunum  (Nouan,  between  Orleans  and  Bourges),  fell  into  his  hands 
without  difficulty.  Alarmed  at  his  rapid  progress,  Vercingetorix 
persuaded  his  countrymen  to  lay  waste  their  country  and  destroy 
their  towns.  This  plan  was  accordingly  carried  into  effect ;  but, 
contrary  to  the  wishes  of  Vercingetorix,  Avaricum  (Bourges),  the 
chief  town  of  the  Bituriges,  and  a  strongly-fortified  place,  was 
spared  from  the  general  destruction.  This  town  Cajsar  accordingly 


23 1  HISTORY  OF  ROME.         CiiAp.XXXIIL 

besieged,  and,  notwithstanding  the  heroic  resistance  of  the  Gauls, 
it  was  at  length  taken,  and  all  the  inhabitants,  men,  women,  and 
children,  were  indiscriminately  butchered. 

Cassar  now  divided  his  army  into  two  parts :  one  division,  con- 
sisting of  four  legions,  he  sent,  under  the  command  of  T.  Labienus, 
against  the  Senoncs  and  Farisii ;  the  other,  comprising  six  legions, 
he  led  in  person  into  the  country  of  the  Arverni,  and  with  them 
laid  siege  to  Gergovia  (near  Clennont').  The  revolt  of  the  .^Edui 
shortly  afterward  compelled  him  to  raise  the  siege,  and  inspired 
the  Gauls  with  fresh  courage.  Vercingetorix  retired  to  Alesia 
(Alise,  in  Burgundy),  which  was  considered  impregnable,  and  re- 
solved to  wait  for  succors  from  his  countrymen.  Casar  immedi- 
ately laid  siege  to  the  place,  and  drew  lines  of  circumvallation 
around  it.  The  Romans,  however,  were  in  their  turn  soon  sur- 
rounded by  a  vast  Gallic  army  which  had  assembled  to  raise  the 
siege.  Caesar's  army  was  thus  placed  in  imminent  peril,  and  on 
no  occasion  in  his  whole  life  was  his  military  genius  so  conspicu- 
ous. He  was  between  two  great  armies.  Vercingetorix  had 
70,000  men  in  Alesia,  and  the  Gallic  army  without  consisted  of 
between  250,000  and  300,000  men.  Still  he  would  not  raise  the 
siege.  He  prevented  Vercingetorix  from  breaking  through  the 
lines,  entirely  routed  the  Gallic  army  without,  and  finally  com- 
pelled Alesia  to  surrender.  Vercingetorix  himself  fell  into  his 
hands.  The  fall  of  Alesia  was  followed  by  the  submission  of  the 
^dui  and  Arverni.  Ca;sar  then  led  his  troops  into  winter  quar- 
ters. After  receiving  his  dispatches,  the  Senate  voted  him  a  pub- 
lic thanksgiving  of  twenty  days,  as  in  the  year  B.C.  55. 

Eighth  Campaign,  B.C.  51. — The  victories  of  the  preceding  year 
had  determined  the  fate  of  Gaul ;  but  many  states  still  remained 
in  arms,  and  entered  into  fresh  conspiracies  during  the  winter. 
This  year  was  occupied  in  the  reduction  of  these  states,  into  tho 
particulars  of  which  we  need  not  enter.  During  the  winter  Caasar 
employed  himself  in  the  pacification  of  Gaul,  and,  as  he  already 
(iaw  that  his  presence  would  soon  be  necessary  in  Italy,  he  was 
anxious  to  remove  all  causes  for  future  wars.  He  accordingly  im- 
posed no  new  taxes,  treated  the  states  with  honor  and  respect,  and 
bestowed  great  presents  upon  the  chiefs.  The  experience  of  the 
last  two  years  had  taught  the  Gauls  that  they  had  no  hope  of  con- 
tending successfully  against  Caesar,  and,  as  he  now  treated  them 
with  mildness,  they  wera  the  more  readily  induced  to  submit  pa- 
tiently to  the  Roman  yoke. 


Ruins  on  the  Esquilino. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

INTERNAL  HISTORY,  FROM  THE  RETURN  OF  CICERO  FROM  BANISH- 
MENT  TO  THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  EXPEDI- 
TION AND  DEATH  OF  CRASSUS.  B.C.  57-50. 

CICERO  returned  from  banishment  an  altered  man.  Though 
his  return  had  been  glorious,  he  saw  that  his  position  was  entirely 
changed,  and  lie  was  forced  to  yield  to  a  power  which  he  no  longer 
dared  to  resist.  He  even  lent  his  support  to  the  Triumvirs,  and 
praised  in  public  those  proceedings  which  he  had  once  openly  and 
loudly  condemned.  Meantime  the  power  of  Pompey  had  been 
shaken  at  Rome.  A  misunderstanding  had  sprung  up  between  him 
and  Crassus,  and  Cato  and  the  other  leaders  of  the  aristocracy  at- 
tacked him  with  the  utmost  vehemence.  The  Senate  began  to  en- 
tertain hopes  of  recovering  their  power.  They  determined  to  sup- 
port L.  Domitius  Ahenobai  bus,  who,  in  B.C.  5G,  had  become  a  can- 
didate for  the  Consulship  for  the  following  year,  and  who  threat- 
ened to  deprive  C;csar  of  his  provinces  and  armies.  Under  these 
circumstances  Ctusar  invited  Pompey  and  Crassus  to  meet  him  at 


236  HISTORY  OF  HOME.         CHAP.  XXXIV 

Luca  (Lucca)  in  the  spring  of  B.C.  56.  He  reconciled  them  to  each 
other,  and  arranged  that  they  were  to  be  Consuls  for  the  next  year, 
and  obtain  provinces  and  armies,  while  he  himself  was  to  have  his 
government  prolonged  for  another  five  years,  and  to  receive  pay 
for  his  troops.  On  their  return  to  Rome,  Pompey  and  Crassus  be- 
came candidates  for  the  Consulship  ;  but  Domitius  Ahenobarbus, 
supported  by  Cato  and  the  aristocracy,  offered  a  most  determined 
Opposition.  The  Consul  Lentulus  Marcellinus  likewise  was  re- 
solved to  use  every  means  to  prevent  their  election ;  and,  finding 
it  impossible  to  carry  their  election  while  Marcellinus  was  in  office, 
they  availed  themselves  of  the  veto  of  two  of  the  Tribunes  to  pre- 
vent the  Consular  Comitia  from  being  held  this  year.  The  elec- 
tions, therefore,  did  not  take  place  till  the  beginning  of  B.C.  55,  un- 
der the  presidency  of  an  interrex.  Even  then  Ahenobarbus  and 
Cato  did  not  relax  in  their  opposition ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  armed 
bands  of  Pompey  and  Crassus  had  cleared  the  Campus  Martius  of 
their  adversaries  that  they  were  declared  Consuls  for  the  second 
time  (B.C.  55). 

They  forthwith  proceeded  to  carry  into  effect  the  compact  that 
had  been  made  at  Luca.  They  induced  the  Tribune  C.  Trebonius 
to  bring  forward  two  bills,  one  of  which  gave  the  province  of  the 
two  Spains  to  Pompey,  and  that  of  Syria  to  Crassus ;  the  other 
prolonged  Caesar's  government  for  five  years  more,  namely,  from 
the  1st  of  January,  B.C.  53,  to  the  end  of  the  year  49.  Pompey  was 
now  at  the  head  of  the  state ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  year  of 
office  would  no  longer  be  a  private  man,  but  with  the  command  of 
an  army  and  in  possession  of  the  imperium.  With  an  army  he  felt 
sure  of  regaining  his  former  influence.  He  had  now  completed  the 
theatre  which  he  had  been  some  time  building,  and,  as  a  means  of 
regaining  the  popular  favor,  he  resolved  to  open  it  with  an  exhibi- 
tion of  games  of  unparalleled  splendor  and,  magnificence.  The 
building  itself  was  worthy  of  the  conqueror  of  the  East.  It  was 
the  first  stone  theatre  that  had  been  erected  at  Rome,  and  was  suf- 
ficiently large  to  accommodate  40,000  spectators.  The  games  ex- 
hibited lasted  many  days.  Five  hundred  African  lions  and  eight- 
een elephants  were  killed.  A  rhinoceros  was  likewise  exhibited 
on  this  occasion  for  the  first  time.  Pompey  sent  an  army  into 
Spain  under  the  command  of  his  lieutenants,  L.  Afranius  and  M. 
Petreius,  while  he  himself  remained  in  the  neighborhood  of  Roma 
as  Proconsul. 

Before  the  end  of  the  year  Crassus  set  ont  for  Syria,  with  the 
intention  of  attacking  the  Parthians.  He  was  anxious  to  distin- 
guish himself  in  war,  like  Pompey  and  Caesar,  and,  though  upward 
of  sixty  years  of  age,  he  chose  rather  to  enter  upon  an  undertaking 


B.C.  53.  DEATH  OF  CRASSUS.  237 

for  which  he  had  no  genius  than  to  continue  the  pursuit  of  wealth 
and  influence  at  home.  He  crossed  the  Euphrates  in  B.C.  54,  but, 
hesitating  to  proceed  at  once  against  Parthia,  he  gave  the  enemy 
time  to  assemble  his  forces,  and  returned  to  Syria  without  accom- 
plishing any  thing  of  importance.  He  spent  the  winter  in  Syria, 
where,  instead  of  exercising  his  troops  and  preparing  for  the  en- 
suing campaign,  he  plundered  the  temples,  and  employed  his  time 
in  collecting  money  from  every  quarter.  In  the  following  spring 
(B.C.  53)  he  again  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and  plunged  into  the 
sandy  deserts  of  Mesopotamia.  He  trusted  to  the  guidance  of  an 
Arabian  chieftain,  who  promised  to  lead  him  by  the  shortest  way 
to  the  enemy.  But  this  man  was  in  the  pay  of  Surenas,  the  Par- 
thian general ;  and  when  he  had  brought  the  Romans  into  the  open 
plains  of  Mesopotamia,  he  seized  a  frivolous  pretext,  and  rode  off 
to  inform  Surenas  that  the  Roman  army  was  delivered  into  his 
hands.  The  Parthians  soon  appeared.  They  worried  the  dense- 
ly-marslialed  Romans  with  showers  of  arrows ;  and  by  feigned  re- 
treats, during  which  they  continued  to  discharge  their  arrows,  they 
led  the  Romans  into  disadvantageous  positions.  The  son  of  Cras- 
sus,  who  had  distinguished  himself  as  one  of  Caesar's  lieutenants  in 
Gaul,  was  slain,  and  the  Romans,  after  suffering  great  loss,  retreat- 
ed to  Carrha;,  the  Haran  of  Scripture.  On  the  following  day  they 
continued  their  retreat ;  and  Surenas,  fearing  that  Crassus  might 
after  all  make  his  escape,  invited  him  to  an  interview.  He  was 
treacherously  seized,  and,  in  the  scuffle  which  ensued,  was  slain  by 
some  unknown  hand.  His  head  was  carried  to  the  Parthian  king 
Orodes,  who  caused  melted  gold  to  be  poured  into  the  mouth,  say- 
ing, "  Sate  thyself  now  with  that  metal  of  which  in  life  thon  wert 
so  greedy."  Twenty  thousand  Roman  troops  were  slain,  and  ten 
thousand  taken  prisoners,  in  this  expedition,  one  of  the  most  disas- 
trous in  which  the  Romans  were  ever  engaged.  Only  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  Roman  army  escaped  to  Syria  under  the  command  of 
L.  Cassius  Longinus,  afterward  one  of  Cajsar's  assassins,  who  had 
displayed  considerable  ability  during  the  war,  but  whose  advice 
Crassus  had  constantly  refused  to  follow. 

The  death  of  Crassus  left  Pompey  and  Caesar  alone  at  the  head 
^f  the  state,  and  it  became  evident  that  sooner  or  later  a  struggle 
•would  take  place  between  them  for  the  supremacy.  The  deatli  of 
Julia,  in  B.C.  54,  to  whom  both  her  father  and  husband  were  strong- 
ly attached,  broke  a  link  which  might  have  united  them  much  lon- 
ger. Pompey  considered  that  he  had  been  the  chief  means  of  rais- 
ing Caesar  to  power,  and  he  appeared  long  to  have  deemed  it  im- 
possible that  the  conqueror  of  Mithridatcs  could  be  thrown  into  the 
shade  l>y  any  popular  leader.  Such  a  result,  however,  was  now  im- 


238  HISTORY  OF  HOME.          CHAP.  XXXIV. 

minent.  Caesar's  brilliant  victories  in  Gaul  were  in  every  body's 
mouth,  and  Pompey  saw  with  ill-disguised  mortification  that  ho 
was  becoming  the  second  person  in  the  state.  Though  this  did  not 
lead  him  to  break  with  Cossar  at  once,  it  made  him  anxious  to 
increase  his  power  and  influence,  and  he  therefore  now  resolved,  if 
possible,  to  obtain  the  Dictatorship.  He  accordingly  used  no  ef- 
fort to  put  an  end  to  the  disturbances  at  Home  between  Milo  and 
Clodius  in  this  year,  in  hopes  that  all  parties  would  be  willing 
to  accede  to  his  wishes  in  order  to  restore  peace  to  the  city.  Milo 
was  a  candidate  for  the  Consulship  and  Clodius  for  the  Pratorship. 
Each  was  attended  by  a  band  of  hired  ruffians;  battles  took  place 
between  them  daily  in  the  Forum  and  the  streets ;  all  order  and 
government  were  at  an  end.  In  such  a  state  of  things  no  elections 
could  be  held,  and  the  confusion  at  length  became  downright  an- 
archy, when  Milo  murdered  Clodius  on  the  20th  of  January  in  the 
following  year  (B.C.  52).  The  two  rivals  had  met  near  Bovillae, 
accompanied,  as  usual,  by  their  armed  followers.  A  fray  ensued. 
The  party  of  Milo  proved  the  stronger,  and  Clodius  took  refuge  in 
a  house.  But  Milo  attacked  the  house,  dragged  out  Clodius,  and 
having  dispatched  him,  left  him  dead  upon  the  road.  His  body 
was  found  by  a  Senator,  carried  to  Rome,  and  exposed  naked  to 
the  people.  They  were  violently  excited  at  the  sight,  and  their 
feelings  were  still  farther  inflamed  by  the  harangues  of  the  Trib- 
unes. The  benches  and  tables  of  the  Senate-house  were  seized 
to  make  a  funeral  pile  for  their  favorite ;  and  not  only  the  Sen- 
ate-house, but  several  other  public  buildings,  were  reduced  to  ashes. 
As  the  riots  still  continued,  the  Senate  had  no  longer  any  choice 
but  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  Pompey.  They  therefore  commis- 
sioned him  to  collect  troops  and  put  an  end  to  the  disturbances. 
Pompey,  who  had  obtained  the  great  object  of  his  desires,  obeyed 
with  alacrity ;  he  was  invested  with  the  supreme  power  of  the  state 
by  being  elected  sole  Consul  on  the  25th  of  February ;  and,  in  or- 
der to  deliver  the  city  from  Milo  and  his  myrmidons,  he  brought 
forward  laws  against  violence  and  bribery  at  elections.  Milo  was 
put  upon  his  trial ;  the  court  was  surrounded  with  soldiers ;  Cice« 
ro,  who  defended  him,  was  intimidated,  and  Milo  was  condemned, 
and  went  into  exile  at  Massilia.*  Others  shared  the  same  fate, 
and  peace  was  once  more  restored  to  the  state. 

Pompey's  jealousy  of  Caesar  brought  him  into  connection  with 
the  aristocratical  party.  After  Julia's  death  he  had  married  Cor- 

*  Cicero  sent  to  Milo  at  Massilia  the  oration  which  he  meant  to  have  delivered, 
the  one  which  we  still  have.  Milo,  aftel'  reading  it,  remarked,  "  I  am  glad  it  waa 
not  delivered,  for  I  should  then  have  been  acquitted,  and  never  have  known  the 
delicate  flavor  of  these  Massilian  mullets." 


B.C.  51.  POMPEY  AND  OESAll.  23U 

nelia,  the  daughter  of  Metellus  Scipio,  whom  he  mada  his  colleague 
on  the  first  of  August.  His  next  step  was  to  strike  a  blow  at  Gas- 
Bar.  He  brought  forward  an  old  law  that  no  one  should  become 
a  candidate  for  a  public  office  while  absent,  in  order  that  Caesar 
might  be  obliged  to  resign  his  command,  and  to  place  himself  in 
the  power  of  his  enemies  at  liome,  if  he  wished  to  obtain  the  Con- 
sulship a  second  time.*  But  the  renewal  of  this  enactment  was  BO 
.manifestly  aimed  at  Caesar  that  his  friends  insisted  he  should  be 
specially  exempted  from  it ;  and  as  Pompey  was  not  yet  prepared 
to  break  openly  with  him,  he  thought  it  more  expedient  to  yield. 
At  the  same  time,  Pompey  provided  that  he  himself  should  remain 
in  command  of  an  army  after  his  rival  had  ceased  to  have  one,  by 
obtaining  a  senatus  consultum,  by  which  his  government  of  the 
Spains  was  prolonged  for  another  five  years.  And,  in  case  Csesar 
should  obtain  the  Consulship,  he  caused  a  law  to  be  enacted,  in 
virtue  of  which  no  one  could  have  a  province  till  five  years  had 
elapsed  from  the  time  of  his  holding  a  public  office.  Such  were 
the  precautions  adopted  against  Caesar,  the  uselessness  of  which 
time  soon  showed. 

In  the  following  year  (B.C.  51)  Pompey  declared  himself  still 
more  openly  on  the  side  of  the  Senate ;  but  still  he  shrank  from 
supporting  all  the  violent  measures  of  the  Consul  M.  Claudius  Mar- 
cellus, who  proposed  to  send  a  successor  to  Caesar,  on  the  plea  that 
the  war  in  Gaul  was  finished,  and  to  deprive  him  of  the  privilege 
of  becoming  a  candidate  for  the  Consulship  in  his  absence.  The 
Consuls  for  the  next  year  (B.C.  50),  L.  JEmilius  Paullus  and  C. 
Claudius  Marcellus,  and  the  powerful  Tribune  C.  Curio,  were  all 
reckoned  devoted  partisans  of  Pompey  and  the  Senate.  Caesar, 
however,  gained  over  Paullus  and  Curio  by  large  bribes,  and  with 
a  lavish  hand  distributed  immense  sums  of  money  among  the  lead- 
ing men  of  Home.  It  was  proposed  in  the  Senate  by  the  Consul 
C.  Marcellus  that  Caesar  should  lay  down  his  command  by  the  13th 
of  November.  But  this  was  an  unreasonable  demand ;  Ctcsar's 
government  had  upward  of  another  year  to  run ;  and  if  he  had 
come  to  Rome  as  a  private  man  to  sue  for  the  Consulship,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  his  life  would  have  been  sacrificed.  Cato 
had  declared  that  he  would  bring  Caesar  to  trial  as  soon  as  he  laid 
down  his  command ;  but  the  trial  would  have  been  only  a  mock- 
ery, for  Pompey  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city  at  the  head  of 
an  army,  and  would  have  overawed  the  judges  by  his  soldiery  as  at 
Milo's  trial.  The  Tribune  Curio  consequently  interposed  his  veto 

*  Caspar's  government  would  expire  at  the  end  of  B.C.  49,  and  he  had  therefore 
determined  to  obtain  the  Consulship  for  B.C.  48,  since  otherwise  he  would  become 
a  private  person. 


240  HISTORY  OF  HOME.         CHAP.  XXXIV. 

upon  the  proposition  of  Marccllus.  The  Senate,  anxious  to  dimin- 
ish the  number  of  his  troops,  had,  under  pretext  of  u  war  with  the 
Parthians,  ordered  that  Pompey  and  Caesar  should  each  furnish  a 
legion  to  be  sent  into  the  East.  The  legion  which  Pompey  intend- 
ed to  devote  to  this  service  was  one  he  had  lent  to  C;csar  in  B.C. 
53,  and  which  he  now  accordingly  demanded  back ;  and,  although 
Caisar  saw  that  he  should  thus  be  deprived  of  two  legions,  which 
would  probably  be  employed  against  himself,  he  complied  with  the 
request.  Upon  their  arrival  in  Italy,  they  were  not  sent  to  the 
East,  but  were  ordered  to  pass  the  winter  at  Capua.  Cajsar  took 
up  his  quarters  at  Ravenna,  the  last  town  in  his  province  bordering 
upon  Italy. 

Though  war  seemed  inevitable,  Cassar  still  showed  himself  will- 
ing to  enter  into  negotiations  with  the  aristocracy,  and  according- 
ly sent  Curio  with  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Senate,  in  which  ho 
expressed  his  readiness  to  resign  his  command  if  Pompey  would 
do  the  same.  Curio  arrived  at  Rome  on  the  1st  of  January,  B.C. 
49,  the  day  on  which  the  new  Consuls,  L.  Cornelius  Lentulus  and 
C.  Claudius  Marcellus,  entered  upon  their  office.  It  was  with  great 
difficulty  that  the  Tribunes,  M.  Antonius,  afterward  the  well-known 
Triumvir,  and  Q.  Cassius  Longinus,  forced  the  Senate  to  allow  the 
letter  to  be  read.  After  a  violent  debate,  the  motion  of  Scipio, 
Pompey's  father-in-law,  was  carried,  "  that  Caesar  should  disband 
his  army  by  a  certain  day,  and  that  if  he  did  not  do  so  he  should 
be  regarded  as  an  enemy  of  the  state."  On  the  Cth  of  January 
the  Senate  passed  the  decree  investing  the  Consuls  with  dictatorial 
power.  Antonius  and  Cassius,  considering  their  lives  no  longer 
safe,  fled  from  the  city  in  disguise  to  Caesar's  army,  and  called  upon 
him  to  protect  the  inviolable  persons  of  the  Tribunes.  This  was 
the  crisis.  The  Senate  intrusted  the  management  of  the  war  to 
Pompey,  determined  that  fresh  levies  of  troops  should  be  held, 
and  voted  a  sum  of  money  from  the  public  treasury  to  Pompey. 
Pompey  all  along  had  no  apprehensions  as  to  the  war ;  he  thought 
it  impossible  that  Caesar  should  ever  march  against  him ;  he  was 
convinced  that  his  great  fame  would  cause  a  multitude  of  troops 
to  flock  around  him  whenever  he  wished.  In  addition  to  this,  he 
had  been  deceived  as  to  the  disposition  of  Cajsar's  troops :  he  had 
been  led  to  believe  that  they  were  ready  to  desert  their  general  at 
the  first  opportunity.  Consequently,  when  the  war  broke  out,  Pom- 
pey had  scarcely  any  troops  except  the  two  legions  which  he  had 
obtained  from  Caisar,  and  on  the  fidelity  of  which  he  could  by  no 
'>M2>\iis  rely. 


CHAPTEE   XXXV. 

FROM    THE  BEGINNING    OP   THE    SECOND   CIVIL   WAR   TO   CJESAB'S 
DEATH.       B.C.   49-44. 

As  soon  as  Caesar  learned  at  Eavenna  the  last  resolution  of  tho 
Senate,  he  assembled  his  soldiers,  informed  them  of  the  wrongs  ho 
had  sustained,  and  called  upon  them  to  support  him.  Finding 
them  quite  willing  to  support  him,  he  crossed  the  Eubicon,*  which, 
separated  his  province  from  Italy,  and  occupied  Ariminum,  where 
he  met  with  the  Tribunes.  He  commenced  his  enterprise  with 
only  one  legion,  consisting  of  5000  foot-soldiers  and  300  horse;  but 
others  had  orders  to  follow  him  from  Transalpine  Gaul,  and  he  was 
well  aware  of  the  importance  of  expedition,  that  the  enemy  might 
have  no  time  to  complete  their  preparations.  Though  it  was  the 
middle  of  winter,  he  pushed  on  with  the  utmost  rapidity,  and  such 
was  the  popularity  of  his  cause  in  Italy,  that  city  after  city  opened 
its  gates  to  him,  and  his  march  was  like  a  triumphal  progress. 
Arretium,  Pisaurum,  Fanum,  Ancona,  Iguvium,  and  Auximum  fell 

*  The  crossing  of  tliia  stream  was  in  reality  a  declaration  of  war  against  the 
liepublic,  and  Inter  writers  relate  that  upon  arriving  at  the  Rubicon  Csesar  long 
hesitated  whether  he  should  take  this  irrevocable  step,  and  that,  after  pondering 
many  hours,  he  at  length  exclaimed,  "The  die  is  cast,"  and  plunged  into  tho 
river.  But  there  is  not  a  word  of  this  in  Csesar'a  own  narrative. 

Q 


242  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

into  his  hands.  These  successes  caused  the  utmost  consternation 
at  Rome  ;  it  was  reported  that  Caesar's  cavalry  were  already  at  the 
gates ;  a  general  panic  seized  the  Senate,  and  they  fled  from  the 
city  without  even  taking  with  them  the  money  from  the  public 
treasury.  Caesar  continued  his  victorious  march  through  Picenura 
till  he  came  to  Corfinium,  which  M.  Domitius  Ahenoharhus  held 
with  a  strong  force ;  but,  as  Pompey  did  not  march  to  his  assist- 
ance, Domitius  was  unable  to  maintain  the  place,  and  fell  himself 
into  Caesar's  hands,  together  with  several  other  Senators  and  dis- 
tinguished men.'  Caesar,  with  the  same  clemency  which  he  dis« 
played  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Civil  War,  dismissed  them  all 
uninjured.  He  then  hastened  southward  in  pursuit  of  Pompey, 
who  had  now  resolved  to  abandon  Italy.  He  reached  Brundusium 
before  Caesar,  but  had  not  sailed  when  the  latter  arrived  before  the 
town.  Caesar  straightway  laid  siege  to  the  place,  but  Pompey 
abandoned  it  on  the  17th  of  March,  and  embarked  for  Greece. 
Caesar  was  unable  to  follow  him  for  want  of  ships.  He  accordingly 
marched  back  from  Brundusium,  and  repaired  to  Rome,  having 
thus  in  three  months  become  the  master  of  the  whole  of  Italy. 

The  only  opposition  which  Caesar  met  with  in  Rome  was  from 
L.  Metellus  the  Tribune,  who  attempted  to  prevent  him  from  enter- 
ing the  public  treasury,  though  the  people  had  given  him  permis- 
sion to  take  from  it  as  much  money  as  he  pleased.  "  Stand  aside, 
young  man,"  said  Caesar;  "  it  is  easier  for  me  to  do  than  to  say." 
After  remaining  in  the  neighborhood  of  Rome  for  a  short  time,  he 
set  out  for  Spain,  leaving  M.  Lepidus  in  charge  of  the  city,  and  M. 
Antonius  in  command  of  the  troops  in  Italy.  He  sent  Curio  to 
drive  Cato  out  of  Sicily,  Q.Valerius  to  take  possession  of  Sardinia, 
and  C.  Antonius  to  occupy  Illyricum.  Curio  and  Valerius  ob- 
tained possession  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia  without  opposition ;  and 
the  former  then  passed  over  into  Africa,  which  was  in  possession 
of  the  Pompeian  party.  Here,  however,  he  encountered  strong  op- 
position, and  at  length  was  defeated,  and  lost  his  life  in  a  battle 
with  Juba,  king  of  Mauretania,  who  supported  P.  Atius  Varus,  the 
Pompeian  commander.  C.  Antonius  also  met  with  ill  success  in 
Illyricum,  for  his  army  was  defeated,  and  he  himself  taken  prisoner. 
These  disasters  were  more  than  counterbalanced  by  Caesar's  victo- 
ries in  the  mean  time  in  Spain.  Leaving  Rome  about  the  middle 
of  April,  he  found,  on  his  arrival  in  Gaul,  that  Massilia  refused  to 
submit  to  him.  He  besieged  the  place  forthwith,  but,  unable  to 
take  it  immediately,  he  left  C.  Trebonius  and  D.  Brutus,  with  part 
of  his  troops,  to  prosecute  the  siege,  and  continued  his  march  to 
Spain.  On  the  approach  of  Caesar,  L.  Afranius  and  M.  Pctreius, 
the  lieutenants  of  Pompey  in  Spain,  united  their  forces,  and  took 


B.C.  49.  CIVIL  WAR  243 

up  a  strong  position  near  the  town  of  Ilerda  (Lerida,  in  Catalonia), 
on  the  right  hank  of  the  Sicoris  (Scyre).  After  experiencing  great 
difficulties  at  first  and  some  reverses,  Caesar  at  length  reduced 
Afranius  and  Petreius  to  such  straits  that  they  were  obliged  to  stir- 
render.  They  themselves  were  dismissed  uninjured,  part  of  their 
troops  disbanded,  and  the  remainder  incorporated  among  Cacsar'g 
troops.  The  conqueror  then  proceeded  to  march  against  Varro, 
who  commanded  two  legions  in  the  Farther  Province ;  but,  after 
the  victory  over  Afranius  and  Petreius,  there  was  no  army  in  Spain 
capable  of  offering  resistance,  and  Varro  accordingly  surrendered 
to  Caesar  on  his  arrival  at  Corduba  (Cordova).  Having  thus  sub- 
dued all  Spain  in  forty  days,  he  returned  to  Gaul.  Massilia  had 
not  yet  yielded;  but  the  siege  had  been  prosecuted  with  so  much 
vigor,  that  the  inhabitants  were  compelled  to  surrender  the  town 
soon  after  he  appeared  before  the  walls. 

During  his  absence  in  Spain  Caesar  was  appointed  Dictator  by 
the  Praetor  M.  Lepidus,  who  had  been  empowered  to  do  so  by  a 
law  passed  for  the  purpose.  On  his  return  to  Rome  Cassar  as- 
sumed the  new  dignity,  but  laid  it  down  again  at  the  end  of  eleven 
days,  after  holding  the  Consular  Comitia,  in  which  he  himself  and 
P.  Servilius  Vatia  were  elected  Consuls  for  the  next  year.  But 
during  these  eleven  days  he  caused  some  very  important  laws  to 
be  passed.  The  first  was  intended  to  relieve  debtors,  but  at  the 
same  time  to  protect,  Fo  a  great  extent,  the  rights  of  creditors.  He 
next  restored  all  exiles ;  and,  finally,  he  conferred  the  full  citizen- 
ship upon  the  Transpadani,  who  had  hitherto  held  only  the  Latin 
franchise. 

After  laying  down  the  Dictatorship,  Cajsar  went  in  December  to 
Brundusium,  where  he  had  previously  ordered  his  troops  to  assem- 
ble. He  had  lost  many  men  in  the  long  march  from  Spain,  and 
also  from  sickness  arising  from  their  passing  the  autumn  in  the 
south  of  Italy.  Pompey  during  the  summer  had  raised  a  large 
force  in  Greece,  Egypt,  and  the  East,  the  scene  of  his  former  glory. 
He  had  collected  an  army  consisting  of  nine  legions  of  Roman  cit- 
izens, and  an  auxiliary  force  of  cavalry  and  infantry;  and  his 
.forces  far  surpassed  in  number  those  which  Caesar  had  assembled 
at  Brundusium.  Moreover,  Pompey's  fleet,  under  the  command 
of  Bibulus,  Caesar's  colleague  in  his  first  Consulship,  completely 
commanded  the  sea.  Still  Caesar  ventured  to  set  sail  from  Brun- 
dusium on  the  4th  of  January,  and  he  arrived  the  next  day  in  safe- 
ty on  the  coast  of  Epirus.  In  consequence,  however,  of  the  small 
number  of  his  ships,  he  was  able  to  carry  over  only  seven  legions, 
which,  from  the  causes  previously  mentioned,  had  been  so  thinned 
as  to  amount  only  to  15,000  foot  and  500  horse.  After  landing 


244  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

this  force  he  sent  back  his  ships  to  bring  over  the  remainder ;  but 
part  of  the  fleet  was  intercepted  in  its  return  by  M.  Bibulus,  who 
kept  up  such  a  strict  watch  along  the  coast  that  the  rest  of  Caesar's 
army  was  obliged  for  the  present  to  remain  at  Brundusium.  Caesar 
was  thus  in  a  critical  position,  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  country, 
and  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  his  army ;  but  he  knew  that  he  could 
thoroughly  rely  on  his  men,  and  therefore  immediately  commenced 
acting  on  the  offensive.  After  gaining  possession  of  Oricum  and 
Apollonia,  he  hastened  northward,  in  hopes  of  surprising  Dyrrha- 
chium,  where  all  Pompey's  stores  were  deposited  ;  but  Pompey,  by 
rapid  marches,  reached  this  town  before  him,  and  both  armies  then 
encamped  opposite  to  each  other,  Pompey  on  the  right,  and  Caesar 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  River  Apsus.  Ca;sar  was  now  greatly  in 
want  of  re-enforcements,  and  such  was  his  impatience  that  he  at- 
tempted to  sail  across  the  Adriatic  in  a  small  boat.  The  waves 
ran  so  high  that  the  sailors  wanted  to  turn  back,  till  Cresar  discov- 
ered himself,  telling  them  that  they  carried  Cajsar  and  his  fortunes. 
They  then  toiled  on,  but  the  storm  at  length  compelled  them  to  re- 
turn, and  with  difficulty  they  reached  again  the  coast  of  Greece. 
Shortly  afterward  M.  Antonius  succeeded  in  bringing  over  the  re- 
mainder of  the  army.  Pompey  meantime  had  retired  to  some 
high  ground  near  Dyrrhachium,  and,  as  he  would  not  venture  a 
battle  with  Caesar's  veterans,  Ccesar  began  to  blockade  him  in  his 
position,  and  to  draw  lines  of  circumvallatioTi  of  an  extraordinary 
extent.  They  were  nearly  completed  when  Pompey  forced  a  pas- 
sage through  them,  and  drove  back  Caesar's  legions  with  considera- 
ble loss.  Caesar  thus  found  himself  compelled  to  retreat  from  his 
present  position,  and  accordingly  commenced  his  march  for  Thes- 
saly.  Pompey's  policy  of  avoiding  a  general  engagement  with 
Cajsar's  veterans  till  he  could  place  more  reliance  upon  his  own 
troops  was  undoubtedly  a  wise  one,  and  had  been  hitherto  crowned 
with  success ;  but  he  was  prevented  from  carrying  out  the  prudent 
plan  which  he  had  formed  for  conducting  the  campaign.  His  camp 
was  rilled  with  a  multitude  of  Roman  nobles,  unacquainted  with 
war,  and  anxious  to  return  to  their  estates  in  Italy  and  to  the  lux- 
uries of  the  capital.  His  unwillingness  to  fight  was  set  down  to 
love  of  power  and  anxiety  to  keep  the  Senate  in  subjection.  Stung 
with  the  reproaches  with  which  he  was  assailed,  and  elated  in 
sotne  degree  by  his  victory  at  Dyrrhachium,  he  resolved  to  bring1 
the  contest  to  an  issue.  Accordingly,  he  offered  battle  to  Caesar  in 
the  plain  of  Pharsalus,  or  Pharsalia,  in  Thessaly.  The  numbers 
on  either  side  were  very  unequal:  Pompey  had  45,000  foot-sol- 
diers and  7000  horse,  Caesar  22,000  foot-soldiers  and  1000  horse. 
The  battle,  which  was  fought  on  the  9th  of  August,  B.C.  48,  ao 


B.C.  48.  BATTLE  OF  PIIARSALIA.  245 

cording  to  the  old  calendar,*  ended  in  the  total  defeat  of  Pompey'8 
army. 

The  battle  of  Pharsalia  decided  the  fate  of  Pompey  and  the  Re- 
public. Pompey  was  at  once  driven  to  despair.  He  made  no  at- 
tempt to  rally  his  forces,  though  he  might  still  have  collected  a 
considerable  army  ;  but,  regarding  every  tiling  as  lost,  he  hurried 
to  the  sea-coast  with  a  few  friends.  He  embarked  on  board  a 
merchant-ship  at  the  month  of  the  River  Peneus,  and  first  sailed  to 
Lesbos,  where  he  took  on  board  his  wife  Cornelia,  and  from  thence 
made  for  Cyprus.  He  now  determined  to  seek  refuge  in  Egypt, 
ns  he  had  been  the  means  of  restoring  to  his  kingdom  Ptolemy  Au- 
letcs,  the  father  of  the  young  Egyptian  monarch.  On  his  death  in 
B.C.  51  Ptolemy  Auletes  had  left  directions  that  his  son  should 
reign  jointly  with  his  elder  sister  Cleopatra.  But  their  joint  reign 
did  not  last  long,  for  Ptolemy,  or,  rather,  Pothinus  and  Achillas, 
his  chief  advisers,  expelled  his  sister  from,  the  throne.  Cleopatra 
collected  a  force  in  Syria,  with  which  she  invaded  Egypt.  The 
generals  of  Ptolemy  were  encamped  opposite  her,  near  Alexandria, 
when  Pompey  arrived  off  the  coast  and  craved  the  protection  of  the 
young  king.  This  request  threw  Pothinus  and  Achillas  into  great 
difficulty,  for  there  were  many  of  Pompey's  old  soldiers  in  the 
Egyptian  army,  and  they  feared  he  would  become  master  of  Egypt. 
They  therefore  determined  to  put  him  to  death.  Accordingly,  they 
sent  out  a  small  boat,  took  Pompey  on  board  with  three  or  four  at- 
tendants, and  rowed  for  the  shore.  His  wife  and  friends  watched 
him  from  the  ship,  anxious  to  see  in  what  manner  he  would  be  re- 
ceived by  the  king,  who  was  standing  on  the  edge  of  the  sea  with 
his  troops.  Just  as  the  boat  reached  the  shore,  and  I'ompey  was 
in  the  act  of  rising  from  his  seat  in  order  to  step  on  land,  he  was 
stabbed  in  the  back  by  Septimius,  who  had  formerly  been  one  of 
his  centurions.  Achillas  and  the  rest  then  drew  their  swords; 
whereupon  Pompey,  without  uttering  a  word,  covered  his  face  with 
his  toga,  and  calmly  submitted  to  his  fate.  He  had  just  completed 
his  58th  year.  His  head  was  cut  off,  and  his  body,  which  was  cast 
naked  upon  the  shore,  was  buried  by  his  freedman  Philippus,  who 
/had  accompanied  him  from  the  ship.  The  head  was  brought  to 
Ca:sar  when  he  arrived  in  Egypt  soon  afterward,  but  he  turned 
away  from  the  sight,  shed  tears  at  the  untimely  end  of  his  rival, 
and  put  his  murderers  to  death. 

When  news  of  the  battle  of  Pharsalia  reached  Rome,  various 

laws  were  passed  which  conferred  supreme  power  upon  Caesar. 

Though  absent,  he  was  nominated  Dictator  a  second  time,  and  for 

a  whole  year.     lie  appointed  M.  Antonius  his  master  of  the  Horse, 

*  In  reality  on  the  6th  of  June. 


246  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

and  entered  upon  the  office  in  September  of  this  year  (n.c.  48). 
lie  was  also  nominated  to  the  Consulship  for  the  next  five  years, 
though  he  did  not  avail  himself  of  this  privilege ;  and  he  was  in- 
vested with  the  tribunicial  power  for  life. 

Caesar  went  to  Egypt  in  pursuit  of  Pompey,  and  upon  his  arrival 
there  he  became  involved  in  a,  war,  which  detained  him  several 
months,  and  gave  the  remains  of  the  Pompeian  party  time  to  rally 
and  to  make  fresh  preparations  for  continuing  the  struggle.  The 
war  in  Egypt,  usually  called  the  Alexandrine  War,  arose  from  Ca> 
sar's  resolving  to  settle  the  disputes  respecting  the  succession  to  tho 
kingdom.  He  determined  that  Cleopatra,  whose  fascinations  com- 
pletely won  his  heart,  and  her  brother  Ptolemy,  should  reign  in 
common,  according  to  the  provisions  of  their  father's  will ;  but  as 
this  decision  was  opposed  by  the  guardians  of  the  young  king,  a 
war  broke  out  between  them  and  Caesar,  in  which  he  was  for  some 
time  exposed  to  great  danger  on  account  of  the  small  number  of 
his  troops.  But,  having  received  re-enfarcements,  he  finally  pre- 
vailed, and  placed  Cleopatra  and  her  younger  brother  on  the 
throne,  the  elder  having  perished  in  the  course  of  the  contest. 
Cleopatra  afterward  joined  Caesar  at  Rome,  and  bore  him  a  son 
named  Caesarion. 

After  bringing  the  Alexandrine  War  to  a  close,  toward  the  end 
of  March,  B.C.  47,  Caesar  marched  through  Syria  into  Pontus  in  or- 
der to  attack  Pharnaces,  the  son  of  the  celebrated  Mithridates,  who 
had  defeated  Cn.  Domitius  Calvinus,  one  of  Cajsar's  lieutenants. 
This  war,  however,  did  not  detain  him  long;  for  Pharnaces;  ven- 
turing to  come  to  an  open  battle  with  the  Dictator,  was  utterly  de- 
feated on  the  2d  of  August  near  Zela.  It  was  in  reference  to  this 
victory  that  Caesar  sent  the  celebrated  laconic  dispatch  to  the  Sen- 
ate, Veni,  vidi,  vici,  "I  came,  I  saw, I  conquered."  He  then  pro- 
ceeded to  Rome,  caused  himself  to  be  appointed  Dictator  for  an- 
other year,  and  nominated  M.JEmilius  Lepidus  his  Master  of  the 
Horse.  At  the  same  time  he  quelled  a  formidable  mutiny  of  his 
troops  which  had  broken  out  in  Campania. 

Caesar  did  not  remain  in  Rome  more  than  two  or  three  months. 
With  his  usual  activity  and  energy  he  set  out  to  Africa  before  tho 
end  of  the  year  (B.C.  47),  in  order  to  carry  on  the  war  against 
Scipio  and  Cato,  who  had  collected  a  large  army  in  that  country. 
Their  forces  were  far  greater  than  those  which  Caesar  could  bring 
against  them;  but  he  had  too  much  reliance  on  his  own  genius  to 
be  alarmed  by  mere  disparity  of  numbers.  At  first  he  was  in  con- 
siderable difficulties  ;  but,  having  been  joined  by  some  of  his  other 
legions,  he  was  able  to  prosecute  the  campaign  with  more  vigor, 
and  finally  brought  it  to  a  close  by  the  battle  of  Thapsus,  on  tho 


B.C.  47.  DEATH  OF  CATO  AT  UTICA.  247 

6th  of  April,  B.C.  46,  in  which  the  Pompciau  army  was  completely 
defeated.  All  Africa  now  submitted  to  Cttsar  with  the  exception 
of  Utica,  which  Cato  commanded.  The  inhabitants  saw  that  re- 
sistance was  hopeless ;  and  Cato,  who  was  a  sincere  Republican, 
resolved  to  die  rather  than  submit  to  Cajsar's  despotism.  After 
spending  the  greater  part  of  the  night  in  perusing  Plato's  fhccdo,  a 
dialogue  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  he  stabbed  himself.  His 
friends,  hearing  him  fall,  ran  up,  found  him  bathed  in  blood,  and, 
while  he  was  fainting,  dressed  his  wounds.  When,  however,  ho 
recovered  feeling,  he  tore  off  the  bandages,  and  so  died. 

Caesar  returned  to  Rome  by  the  end  of  July.  He  was  now  un- 
disputed master  of  the  Roman  world.  Great  apprehensions  were 
entertained  by  his  enemies  lest,  notwithstanding  his  former  clem- 
ency, he  should  imitate  Marius  and  Sulla,  and  proscribe  all  his  op- 
ponents. But  these  fears  were  perfectly  groundless.  A  love  of 
cTuelty  was  no  part  of  Cesar's  nature ;  and,  with  a  magnanimity 
which  victors  rarely  show,  and  least  of  all  those  in  civil  wars,  he 
freely  forgave  all  who  had  borne  arms  against  him,  and  declared 
that  he  should  make  no  difference  between  Pompeians  and  Caesar- 
ians.  His  object  was  now  to  allay  animosities,  and  to  secure  the 
lives  and  property  of  all  the  citizens  of  his  empire.  As  soon  as 
the  news  of  his  African  victory  reached  Rome  a  public  thanksgiv- 
ing of  forty  days  was  decreed  in  his  honor ;  the  Dictatorship  was 
bestowed  upon  him  for  ten  years ;  and  the  Censorship,  under  the 
new  title  of  "Praefectus  Morum,"  for  three  years.  Caesar  had 
never  yet  enjoyed  a  triumph ;  and,  as  he  had  now  no  farther  ene- 
mies to  meet,  he  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  celebrating 
his  victories  in  Gaul,  Egypt,  Pontus,  and  Africa,  by  four  magnificent 
triumphs.  None  of  these,  however,  were  in  honor  of  his  successes 
in  the  civil  war;  and  consequently  his  African  triumph  was  to 
commemorate  his  victory  over  Juba,  and  not  over  Scipio  and  Cato. 
These  triumphs  were  followed  by  largesses  of  corn  and  money  to 
the  people  and  the  soldiers,  by  public  banquets,  and  all  sorts  of  en- 
tertainments. 

Caesar  now  proceeded  to  correct  the  various  evils  which  had 
crept  into  the  state,  and  to  obtain  the  enactment  of  several  laws' 
suitable  to  the  altered  condition  of  the  commonwealth.  He  at- 
tempted, by  severe  sumptuary  laws,  to  restrain  the  extravagance 
which  pervaded  all  classes  of  society.  But  the  most  important  of 
his  changes  this  year  (B.C.  4G)  was  the  reformation  of  the  Calen- 
dar, which  was  a  real  benefit  to  his  country  and  the  civilized  world, 
and  which  he  accomplished  in  his  character  as  Pontifex  Maximus. 
The  regulation  of  the  Roman  calendar  had  always  been  intrusted 
to  the  College  of  Pontiffs,  who  had  been,  accustomed  to  lengthen 


248  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  XXXV 

or  shorten  the  year  at  their  pleasure  for  political  purposes ;  and 
the  confusion  had  at  length  become  so  great  that  the  Roman  year 
was  three  months  behind  the  real  time.  To  remedy  this  serious 
evil,  Caesar  added  'JO  days  to  the  current  year,  and  thus  made  it 
consist  of  445  days ;  and  he  guarded  against  a  repetition  of  similar 
errors  for  the  future  by  adapting  the  year  to  the  sun's  course. 

In  the  midst  of  these  labors  Caesar  was  interrupted  by  intelli- 
gence of  a  formidable  insurrection  which  had  broken  out  in  Spain; 
where  the  remains  of  the  Pompeian  party  had  again  collected  a 
large  army  under  the  command  of  Pompey's  sons,  Cneius  and  Sex- 
tus.  Caesar  set  out  for  Spain  at  the  end  of  B.C.  46.  With  his 
usual  activity  he  arrived  at  Obulco,  near  Corduba,  in  27  days  from 
the  time  of  his  leaving  Rome.  He  found  the  enemy  able  to  offer 
§tronger  opposition  than  he  had  anticipated ;  but  he  brought  the 
war  to  a  close  by  the  battle  of  Munda,  on  the  17th  of  March,  B.C. 
45,  in  which  he  entirely  defeated  the  enemy.  It  was,  however,  a 
hard-fought  battle :  Cesar's  troops  were  at  first  driven  back,  and 
were  only  rallied  by  their  general's  exposing  his  own  person,  like  a 
common  soldier,  in  the  front  line  of  the  battle.  Cn.  Pompeius  was 
killed  shortly  afterward,  but  Sextus  made  good  his  escape.  The 
settlement  of  the  affairs  in  Spain  detained  Caesar  in  the  province 
some  months  longer,  and  he  consequently  did  not  reach  Home  till 
September.  At  the  beginning  of  October  he  entered  the  city  in 
triumph  on  account  of  his  victories  in  Spain,  although  the  victory 
had  been  gained  over  Roman  citizens.  The  Senate  received  him 
with  the  most  servile  flattery.  They  had  in  his  absence  voted  a 
public  thanksgiving  of  fifty  days,  and  they  now  vied  with  each 
other  in  paying  him  every  kind  of  adulation  and  homage.  He  was 
to  wear,  on  all  public  occasions,  the  triumphal  robe ;  he  was  to  re- 
ceive the  title  of  "Father  of  his  Country;"  statues  of  him  were  to 
be  placed  in  all  the  temples ;  his  portrait  was  to  be  struck  on 
coins;  the  month  of  Quintilis  was  to  receive  the  name  of  Julius  in 
his  honor,  and  he  was  to  be  raised  to  a  rank  among  the  gods.  But 
there  were  still  more  important  decrees  than  these,  which  were  in- 
tended to  legalize  his  power,  and  confer  upon  him  the  whole  gov- 
ernment of  the  Roman  world.  He  received  the  title  of  Imperator 
for  life ;  he  was  nominated  Consul  for  the  next  ten  years,  and  both 
Dictator  and  Prarfectus  Morum  for  life  ;  his  person  was  declared 
sacred ;  a  guard  of  Senators  and  Knights  was  appointed  to  protect 
him,  and  the  whole  Senate  took  an  oath  to  watch  over  his  safety. 

If  we  now  look  at  the  way  in  which  Caesar  exerted  his  sovereign 
power,  it  can  not  be  denied  that  he  used  it  in  the  main  for  the  good 
of  his  country.  He  still  pursued  his  former  merciful  course :  no 
proscriptions  or  executions  took  place ;  and  he  began  to  revolve  vast 


B.C.  44.  CAESAR'S  RULE.  249 

schemes  for  the  benefit  of  the  Roman  world.  At  the  same  time  he 
was  obliged  to  reward  his  followers,  and  for  that  reason  lie  greatly 
increased  the  number  of  senators  and  magistrates,  so  tl.it  there 
were  1C  Praetors,  40  Quastors,  and  6  JEdiles,  and  new  incmbers 
were  added  to  the  priestly  colleges.  Among  other  plans  cf  inter- 
nal improvement,  he  proposed  to  frame  a  digest  of  all  the  Roman 
laws,  to  establish  public  libraries,  to  drain  the  Pomptine  marshes, 
to  enlarge  the  harbor  of  Ostia,  and  to  dig  a  canal  through  the  isth- 
mus of  Corinth.  To  protect  the  boundaries  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
he  meditated  expeditions  against  the  Parthians  and  the  barbarous 
tribes  on  the  Danube,  and  had  already  begun  to  make  preparations 
for  his  departure  to  the  East.  In  the  midst  of  these  vast  projects 
he  entered  upon  the  last  year  of  his  life,  B.C.  44,  and  his  fifth  Con- 
sulship and  Dictatorship.  He  had  made  M.  Antonius  his  col- 
league in  the  Consulship,  and  M.  Lepidus  the  Master  of  the  Horse. 
He  had  for  some  time  past  resolved  to  preserve  the  supreme  power 
in  his  family ;  and,  as  he  had  no  legitimate  children,  he  had  fixed 
upon  his  great-nephew  Octavius  (afterward  the  Emperor  Augus- 
tus) as  his  successor.  Possessing  royal  power,  he  now  wished  to 
obtain  the  title  of  king,  and  accordingly  prevailed  upon  his  col- 
league Antonius  to  offer  him  the  diadem  in  public  on  the  festival 
of  the  Lupercalia  (the  15th  of  February).  But  the  very  name  of 
king  had  long  been  hateful  at  Rome ;  and  the  people  displayed 
such  an  evident  dislike  to  the  proposal  that  it  was  dropped  for  the 
present. 

The  conspiracy  against  Caesar's  life  had  been  formed  as  early  as 
the  beginning  of  the  year.  It  had  been  set  on  foot  by  C.  Cassius 
Longinus,  a  personal  enemy  of  Caesar's,  and  more  than  sixty  per- 
sons were  privy  to  it.  Private  hatred  alone  seems  to  have  been 
the  motive  of  Cassius,  and  probably  of  several  others.  Many  of 
them  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  war  against  Caesar,  and  had 
not  only  been  forgiven  by  him,  but  raised  to  offices  of  rank  and 
honor.  Among  others  was  M.  Junius  Brutus,  who  had  been  par- 
doned by  Caesar  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  and  had  since  been 
treated  almost  as  his  son.  In  this  very  year  Caesar  had  made  him 
Praetor,  and  held  out  to  him  the  prospect  of  the  Consulship.  Bru- 
tus, like  Cato,  seems  to  have  been  a  sincere  Republican,  and  Cas- 
sius persuaded  him  to  join  the  conspiracy,  and  imitate  his  great 
ancestor  who  freed  them  from  the  Tarquins.  It  was  now  arranged 
to  assasinate  the  Dictator  in  the  Senate-house  on  the  Ides  or  15th 
of  March.  Rumors  of  the  plot  got  abroad,  and  Cajsar  was  strongly 
urged  not  to  attend  the  Senate.  But  he  disregarded  the  warnings 
which  were  given  him.  As  he  entered,  the  Senate  rose  to  do  him 
honor :  and  when  he  had  taken  his  seat,  the  conspirators  pressed 


L'50  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

around  him  as  if  to  support  the  prayer  of  Tillius  Cimber,  who  en-, 
treated  the  Dictator  to  recall  his  brother  from  banishment.  When 
Caesar  began  to  show  displeasure  at  their  importunity,  Tillius  seized 
him  by  his  toga,  which  was  the  signal  for  attack.  Casca  struck 
tha  first  blow,  and  the  other  conspirators  bared  their  weapons. 
Caesar  defended  himself  till  he  saw  Brutus  had  drawn  his  sword, 
and  then  exclaiming.  "And  thou,  too,  Brutus!"  he  drew  his  toga 
over  his  head,  and  fell  pierced  with  three-and-twenty  wounds  at 
the  foot  of  Pompey's  statue. 


Coin  of  Julius  C'sesar. 


Cassar's  death  was  undoubtedly  a  loss  not  only  to  the  Roman 
people,  but  the  whole  civilized  world.  The  Republic  was  utterly 
lost.  The  Roman  world  was  now  called  to  go  through  many  years 
of  disorder  and  bloodshed,  till  it  rested  again  under  the  supremacy 
of  Augustus.  The  last  days  of  the  Republic  had  come,  and  its 
only  hope  of  peace  and  security  was  under  the  strong  hand  of  mil- 
itary power. 

Caesar  was  in  his  56th  year  at  the  time  of  his  death.  His  per- 
sonal appearance  was  noble  and  commanding ;  he  was  tall  in  stat~ 
tire,  of  a  fair  complexion,  and  with  black  eyes  full  of  expression, 
lie  never  wore  a  beard,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  his  head 
was  bald.  His  constitution  was  originally  delicate,  and  he  was 
twice  attacked  by  epilepsy  while  transacting  public  business ;  but, 
by  constant  exercise  and  abstemious  living,  he  had  acquired  strong 
und  vigorous  health,  and  could  endure  almost  any  amount  of  exer- 
tion. He  took  pains  with  his  person,  and  was  considered  to  be  ef- 
feminate in  his  dress. 

Caesar  was  probably  the  greatest  man  of  antiquity.  He  was  at 
one  and  the  same  time  a  general,  a  statesman,  a  lawgiver,  a  jurist, 
an  orator,  a  poet,  a  historian,  a  philologer,  a  mathematician,  and  an 
architect.  He  was  equally  fitted  to  excel  in  every  thing,  and  has 
given  proofs  that  he  would  have  surpassed  almost  all  other  men  in 
any  subject  to  which  he  devoted  the  energies  of  his  extraordinary 
mind.  One  fact  places  his  genius  for  war  in  a  most  striking  light. 
Till  his  40th  year,  when  he  went  as  Proprajtor  into  Spain,  he  had 
been  almost  entirely  engaged  in  civil  life  and  his  military  expe- 


B.C.  44. 


CHARACTER  OF  CAESAR. 


251 


rionce  must  have  been  of  the  most  limited  kind.  Most  of  the 
greatest  generals  in  the  history  of  the  world  have  been  distinguished 
at  an  early  age :  Alexander  the  Great,  Hannibal,  Frederick  of  Prus- 
sia, and  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  gained  some  of  their  most  brilliant 
victories  under  the  age  of  30 ;  but  Caesar,  from  the  age  of  23  to  40, 
had  seen  nothing  of  war,  and,  notwithstanding,  appears  all  at  once 
as  one  of  the  greatest  generals  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 


Statue  of  a  Roman,  representing  the  Toga, 


M.  Antonius. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  CAESAR  TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  FHILIPPI. 
B.C.  44-42. 

WHEN  the  bloody  deed  had  been  finished,  Brutus  and  the  other 
conspirators  rushed  into  the  forum,  proclaiming  that  they  had  killed 
the  Tyrant,  and  calling  the  people  to  join  them  ;  but  they  met  with 
no  response,  and,  finding  alone  averted  looks,  they  retired  to  the 
Capitol.  Here  they  were  joined  by  Cicero,  who  had  not  been  privy 
to  the  conspiracy,  but  was  now  one  of  the  first  to  justify  the  mur- 
der. Meantime  the  friends  of  Ca;sar  were  not  idle.  M.  Lepidus, 
the  Master  of  the  Horse,  who  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city, 
marched  into  the  Campus  Martius  in  the  night;  and  M.Antony 
hastened  to  the  house  of  the  Dictator,  and  took  possession  of  his 
papers  and  treasures.  But  both  parties  feared  to  come  to  blows. 
A  compromise  was  agreed  to ;  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  Senate  it 
was  determined  that  Casar's  murderers  should  not  be  punished, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  that  all  his  regulations  should  remain  in 
force,  that  the  provisions  of  his  will  should  be  carried  into  effect, 
and  that  he  should  be  honored  with  a  public  funeral.  The  con- 


B.C.  44.          C/ESAK'S  WILL.     OCTAVIUS.  253 

spirators  descended  from  the  Capitol ;  and,  as  a  proof  of  reconcili- 
ation, Cassius  supped  with  Antony  and  Brutus  with  Lepidus. 

This  reconciliation  was  only  a  pretense.  Antony  aspired  to  suc- 
ceed to  the  power  of  the  Dictator ;  and,  to  rouse  the  popular  fury 
against  the  conspirators,  Caesar's  will  was  immediately  made  public. 
He  left  as  his  heir  his  great-nephew  Octavius,  a  youth  of  18,  the 
son  of  Atia,  the  daughter  of  his  sister  Julia.  He  bequeathed  con- 
siderable legacies  to  his  murderers.  He  gave  his  magnificent  gar- 
dens beyond  the  Tiber  to  the  public,  and  to  every  Roman  citizen 
he  bequeathed  the  sum  of  300  sesterces  (between  £2  and  £3  ster- 
ling). When  this  became  known  a  deep  feeling  of  sorrow  for  the 
untimely  fate  of  their  benefactor  seized  the  minds  of  the  people. 
Their  feelings  were  raised  to  the  highest  point  two  or  three  days 
afterward,  when  the  funeral  took  place.  The  body  was  to  be  burned 
in  the  Campus  Martius,  but  it  was  previously  carried  to  the  forum, 
where  Antony,  according  to  custom,  pronounced  the  funeral  ora- 
tion over  it.  After  relating  the  exploits  of  the  great  Dictator,  re- 
citing his  will,  and  describing  his  terrible  death,  he  lifted  up  the 
blood-stained  robe  which  Caesar  had  worn  in  the  Senate-house, 
and  which  had  hitherto  covered  the  corpse,  and  pointed  out  the 
numerous  wounds  which  disfigured  the  body.  At  this  sight  a  yell 
of  indignation  was  raised,  and  the  mob  rushed  in  every  direction 
to  tear  the  murderers  to  pieces.  The  conspirators  fled  for  their 
lives  from  the  city.  The  poet  Helvius  Cinna,  being  mistaken  for 
the  Prajtor  Cinna,  one  of  the  assassins,  was  sacrificed  on  the  spot 
before  the  mistake  could  be  explained. 

Antony  was  now  master  of  Rome.  Being  in  possession  of  Cae- 
sar's papers,  he  was  able  to  plead  the  authority  of  the  Dictator  for 
every  thing  which  he  pleased.  The  conspirators  hastened  to  take 
possession  of  the  provinces  which  Cassar  had  assigned  to  them. 
Dec.  Brutus  repaired  to  Cisalpine  Gaul,  M.  Brutus  to  Macedonia, 
and  Cassius  to  Syria.  Antony  now  made  a  disposition  of  the 
provinces,  taking  Cisalpine  Gaul  for  himself,  and  giving  Macedonia 
to  his  brother  C.  Antonius,  and  Syria  to  Dolabella. 

Meantime  a  new  actor  appeared  upon  the  stage.  Octavius  was 
at  Apollonia,  a  town  on  the  coast  of  Illyricum,  at  the  time  of  his 
uncle's  death.  Caesar  had  determined  to  take  his  nephew  with 
him  in  his  expedition  against  the  Parthians,  and  had  accordingly 
sent  him  to  Apollonia,  where  a  camp  had  been  formed,  that  he 
might  pursue  his  military  studies.  The  soldiers  now  offered  to 
follow  him  to  Italy  and  avenge  their  leader's  death,  but  he  did  not 
yet  venture  to  take  this  decisive  step.  He  determined,  however, 
to  sail  at  once  to  Italy,  accompanied,  by  only  a  few  friends.  Upon 
arriving  at  Brundusiiim  he  heard  of  the  will  of  the  Dictator,  and 


25 1  HISTORY  OF  ROME.          CIIAP.  XXXVL 

was  saluted  by  the  soldiers  as  Caesar.  As  the  adopted  heir  of  his 
uncle  his  proper  name  was  now  C.  Julius  Caesar  Octavianus,  and 
by  the  last  of  these  names  we  shall  henceforth  call  him.  He  now 
made  up  his  mind  to  proceed  to  Rome  and  claim  his  uncle's  inher- 
itance, in  opposition  to  the  advice  of  his  mother,  who  dreaded  this 
dangerous  honor  for  her  son.  Upon  arriving  at  Rome  he  declared 
before  the  Praetor,  in  the  usual  manner,  that  he  accepted  the  in- 
heritance, and  he  then  promised  the  people  to  pay  the  money  be- 
queathed to  them.  He  even  ventured  to  claim  of  Antony  the 
treasures  of  his  uncle ;  but,  as  the  latter  refused  to  give  them  up, 
he  sold  the  other  property,  and  even  his  own  estates,  to  discharge 
all  the  legacies.  Antony  threw  every  obstacle  in  his  way ;  but  the 
very  name  of  Caesar  worked  wonders,  and  the  liberality  of  the 
young  man  gained  the  hearts  of  the  people.  He  had,  indeed,  a  dif- 
ficult part  to  play.  He  could  not  join  the  murderers  of  his  uncle ; 
and  yet  Antony,  their  greatest  enemy,  was  also  his  most  dangerous 
foe.  In  these  difficult  circumstances  the  youth  displayed  a  pru- 
dence and  a  wisdom  which  baffled  the  most  experienced  politicians. 
Without  committing  himself  to  any  party,  he  professed  a  warm  at- 
tachment to  the  Senate.  Cicero  had  once  more  taken  an  active 
part  in  public  affairs ;  and  Octavian,  with  that  dissimulation  which 
he  practiced  throughout  his  life,  completely  deceived  the  veteran 
orator.  On  the  2d  of  September  Cicero  delivered  in  the  Senate 
the  first  of  his  orations  against  Antony,  which,  in  imitation  of  those 
of  Demosthenes  against  Philip,  are  known  by  the  name  of  the  Phil- 
ippics. Antony  was  absent  at  the  time,  but  shortly  afterward  at- 
tacked the  orator  in  unmeasured  terms.  Cicero  replied  in  the 
Second  Philippic,  one  of  the  most  violent  invectives  ever  written. 
It  was  not  spoken,  but  was  published  soon  after  Antony  had  quitted 
Rome. 

Meantime  the  emissaries  of  Octavian  had  been  sounding  the  dis- 
position of  the  soldiers,  and  had  already  enlisted  for  him  a  consid- 
erable number  of  troops  in  various  parts  of  Italy.  Antony  saw 
that  the  power  was  slipping  from  under  his  feet.  Two  of  the  le- 
gions which  he  had  sent  from  Epirus  passed  over  to  Octavian ;  and, 
in  order  to  keep  the  remainder  under  his  standard,  and  to  secure 
the  north  of  Italy  to  his  interests,  Antony  now  proceeded  to  Cisal- 
pine Gaul,  which  had  been  previously  granted  to  him  by  the  Sen- 
ate. Upon  entering  the  province  toward  the  end  of  November, 
Deo.  Brutus  threw  himself  into  Mutina  (Jl/b</e»a),  to  which  Antony 
laid  siege. 

Soon  after  Antony's  departure  Cicero  prevailed  upon  the  Senate 
to  declare  Antony  a  public  enemy,  and  to  intrust  to  the  young  Oc- 
tavian the  conduct  of  the  war  against  him.  Cicero  was  now  at  the 


B.C.43.   OCTAVIAN'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  POWER.  255 

height  of  his  glory.  His  activity  was  unceasing,  and  in  the  twelve 
remaining  "Philippics"  he  encouraged  the  Senate  and  the  people 
to  prosecute  the  war  with  vigor.  The  two  new  Consuls  (B.C.  43) 
were  A.  Hirtius  and  C.  Vibius  Pansa,  both  of  whom  had  been  des- 
ignated by  the  late  Dictator.  As  soon  as  they  had  entered  upon 
their  office,  Hirtius,  accompanied  by  Octavian,  marched  into  Cis- 
alpine Gaul,  while  Pansa  remained  in  the  city  to  levy  troops.  For 
some  weeks  no  movement  of  importance  took  place  in  either  army ; 
but  when  Pansa  set  out  to  join  his  colleague  and  Octavian,  Antony 
marched  southward,  attacked  him  at  Forum  Gallorum,  near  Bono- 
nia  (Bologna),  and  gained  a  victory  over  him  (April  14).  Pansa 
was  mortally  wounded  ;  but  Hirtius  retrieved  this  disaster  by  sud- 
denly attacking  Antony  the  same  evening  on  his  return  to  the  camp 
at  Mutina.  A  few  days  afterward  (April  27th)  a  more  decisive 
battle  took  place  before  Mutina.  Antony  was  defeated  with  great 
loss,  but  Hirtius  fell  in  leading  an  assault  on  the  besiegers'  camp. 
The  death  of  the  two  Consuls  left  Octavian  the  sole  command ; 
and  so  timely  was  their  removal  that  he  was  accused  by  many  of 
murdering  them. 

Antony  now  found  it  impossible  to  continue  the  siege  of  Mutina, 
but  he  retreated  in  good  order  northward,  crossed  the  Alps,  and 
was  well  received  in  Farther  Gaul  by  Lepidus,  who  had  promised 
him  support.  Meantime  the  good  understanding  between  Octavian 
and  the  Senate  had  come  to  an  end.  The  latter,  being  resolved  to 
prevent  him  from  obtaining  any  farther  power,  gave  the  command 
of  the  Consular  armies  to  D.Brutus;  and  Cicero  talked  of  remov- 
ing the  boy.  But  the  "boy"  soon  showed  the  Senate  that  he  was 
their  master.  He  gained  the  confidence  of  the  soldiers,  who  gladly 
followed  the  heir  of  Caesar  to  Rome.  Though  only  20  years  of 
age,  he  demanded  of  the  Senate  the  Consulship.  At  first  they  at- 
tempted to  evade  his  demand ;  but  his  soldiers  were  encamped  in 
the  Campus  Martius,  and  in  the  month  of  August  he  was  elected 
Consul  with  his  cousin  Q.  Pedius.  The  first  act  of  his  Consulship 
showed  that  he  had  completely  broken  with  the  Senate.  His  col- 
league proposed  a  law  declaring  all  the  murderers  of  Cassar  to  be 
outlaws.  Octavian  then  quitted  Rome  to  march  professedly  against 
Antony,  leaving  Pedius  in  charge  of  the  city  ;  but  it  soon  appeared 
that  he  had  come  to  an  understanding  with  Antony,  for  he  had 
hardly  entered  Etruria  before  the  unwilling  Senate  were  compelled, 
upon  the  proposal  of  Pedius,  to  repeal  the  sentence  of  outlawry 
against  Antony  and  Lepidus.  These  two  were  now  descending  the 
Alps  at  the  head  of  17  legions.  Octavian  was  advancing  north- 
ward with  a  formidable  army.  Between  two  such  forces  the  situa- 
tion of  D.  Brutus  was  hopeless.  He  was  deserted  by  his  own 


256  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XXXVI. 

troops,  and  fled  to  Aquileia,  intending  to  cross  over  to  Macedonia, 
but  was  put  to  death  in  the  former  place  by  order  of  Antony. 

Lepidus,  who  acted  as  mediator  between  Antony  and  Octavian, 
now  arranged  a  meeting  between  them  on  a  small  island  near  Bo- 
nonia,  formed  by  the  waters  of  the  River  Rhenus,  a  tributary  of 
the  Po.  The  interview  took  place  near  the  end  of  November.  It 
was  arranged  that  the  government  of  the  Roman  world  should  be 
divided  between  the  three  for  a  period  of  five  years,  under  the  titlo 
of  ' '  Triumvirs  for  settling  the  affairs  of  the  Republic."*  Octavian 
received  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Africa ;  Antony  the  two  Gauls,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Narbonese  district,  which,  with  Spain,  was  as- 
signed to  Lepidus.  Octavian  and  Antony  were  to  prosecute  the 
war  against  Brutus  and  Cassius,  who  were  in  possession  of  the 
eastern  provinces.  Lepidus  was  to  receive  the  Consulship  for  the 
following  year,  with  the  charge  of  Italy. 

The  Triumvirs  next  proceeded  to  imitate  the  example  of  Sulla 
by  drawing  up  a  Proscription — a  list  of  persons  whose  lives  were  to 
be  sacrificed  and  property  confiscated.  But  they  had  not  Sulla's 
excuse.  He  returned  to  Italy  exasperated  to  the  highest  degree 
by  the  murder  of  his  friends  and  the  personal  insults  he  had  re- 
ceived. The  Triumvirs,  out  of  a  cold-blooded  policy,  resolved  to 
remove  every  one  whose  opposition  they  feared  or  whose  property 
they  coveted.  In  drawing  up  the  fatal  list,  they  sacrificed  without 
scruple  their  nearest  relatives  and  friends.  To  please  Antony, 
Octavian  gave  up  Cicero ;  Antony,  in  return,  surrendered  his  own 
uncle,  L.  Cffisar ;  and  Lepidus  sacrificed  his  own  brother  Paullus. 
As  many  as  300  Senators  and  2000  Equites  were  entered  on  the 
lists. 

As  soon  as  the  Triumvirs  had  made  their  secret  arrangements 
they  marched  toward  Rome.  Hitherto  they  had  published  the 
names  of  only  17  of  the  Proscribed;  but  the  city  was  in  a  state  of 
the  utmost  alarm,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  Pedius  could  pre- 
serve the  peace.  So  great  were  his  anxiety  and  fatigue  that  he 
died  the  night  before  the  entry  of  the  Triumvirs  into  the  city. 
They  marched  into  Rome  at  the  head  of  their  legions,  and  filled  all 
the  public  places  with  their  soldiery.  No  attempt  at  resistance  was 
made.  A  law  was  proposed  and  carried  conferring  upon  the  Tri- 
umvirs the  title  and  powers  they  had  assumed.  The  work  of 
butchery  then  commenced.  Lists  after  lists  of  the  Proscribed 
were  then  published,  each  more  numerous  than  the  former.  The 
soldiers  hunted  after  the  victims,  cut  off  their  heads,  and  brought 
them  to  the  authorities  to  prove  their  claims  to  the  blood-money. 
Slaves  were  rewarded  for  betraying  their  masters,  and  whoever  har- 
*  Triumviri  Reipublicce  constituendcf. 


B.C.  4!5.  MURDER  OF  CICERO.  257 

bored  any  of  the  Proscribed  was  punished  with  death.  Terror 
reigned  throughout  Italy.  No  one  knew  whose  turn  would  come 
next. 

Cicero  was  included  in  the  first  17  victims  of  the  Proscription. 
He  was  residing  in  his  Tusculan  villa  with  his  brother  Quintus, 
who  urged  him  to  escape  to  Brutus  in  Macedonia.  They  reached 
Astura,  a  small  island  off  Antium,  when  Quintus  ventured  to  Rome 
to  obtain  a  supply  of  money,  of  which  they  were  in  need.  Here 
he  was  apprehended,  together  with  his  son,  and  both  were  put  to 
death.  The  orator  again  embarked,  and  coasted  along  to  Formiae, 
where  he  landed  at  his  villa,  resolving  no  longer  to  fly  from  his 
fate.  After  spending  a  night  in  his  own  house,  his  attendants, 
hearing  that  the  soldiers  were  close  at  hand,  forced  him  to  enter  a 
litter,  and  hurried  him  through  the  woods  toward  the  shore,  distant 
a  mile  from  his  house.  As  they  were  passing  onward  they  were 
overtaken  by  their  pursuers,  and  were  preparing  to  defend  their 
master  with  their  lives;  but  Cicero  commanded  them  to  desist,  and, 
stretching  his  head  out  of  the  litter,  called  upon  his  executioners  to 
strike.  They  instantly  cut  off  his  head  and  hands,  which  were 
carried  to  Rome.  Fulvia,  the  widow  of  Clodius  and  now  the  wife 
of  Antony,  gloated  her  eyes  with  the  sight,  and  even  thrust  a  hair- 
pin through  his  tongue.  Antony  ordered  the  head  to  be  nailed  to 
the  Rostra,  which  had  so  often  witnessed  the  triumphs  of  the  ora- 
tor. Thus  died  Cicero,  in  the  64th  year  of  his  age.  He  had  not 
sufficient  firmness  of  character  to  cope  with  the  turbulent  times  in 
which  his  lot  was  cast,  but  as  a  man  he  deserves  our  admiration 
and  love.  In  the  midst  of  almost  universal  corruption  he  remained 
uncontaminated.  He  was  an  affectionate  father,  a  faithful  friend, 
and  a  kind  master. 

Many  of  the  Proscribed  escaped  from  Italy,  and  took  refuge  with 
Sextus  Pompey  in  Sicily,  and  with  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  the  East. 
After  the  death  of  Caesar,  the  Senate  appointed  Sextus  Pompey  to 
the  command  of  the  Republican  fleet.  He  had  become  master  of 
Sicily ;  his  fleet  commanded  the  Mediterranean  ;  and  Rome  began 
to  suffer  from  want  of  its  usual  supplies  of  corn.  It  was  arranged 
that  Octavian  should  attempt  the  conquest  of  Sicily,  while  Antony 
was  preparing  for  the  campaign  in  the  East.  A  fleet  under  Salvi- 
dienus  Rufus  was  sent  against  Pompey,  but  was  defeated  by  the 
latter  in  the  Straits  of  Sicily,  in  sight  of  Octavian.  But  the  war 
against  Brutus  and  Cassius  was  more  urgent,  and  accordingly  Oc- 
tavian and  Antony  sailed  shortly  afterward  to  the  East,  leaving 
Pompey  undisputed  master  of  the  sea. 

On  quitting  Italy,  Brutus  had  first  gone  to  Athens.  The  re- 
mains of  the  Pompcian  legions,  which  continued  in  Greece  aftet 

K 


258  HISTORY  OF  ROME.          CiiAr.  XXXVI. 

the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  gathered  round  him ;  Hortensius,  the  gov- 
ernor of  Macedonia,  acknowledged  him  as  his  successor;  and  C. 
Antonius,  whom  his  brother  had  sent  over  to  take  the  command 
of  the  province,  was  obliged  to  surrender  to  Brutus. 

His  colleague  had  been  equally  fortunate  in  Syria.  Dolabella, 
to  whom  Antony  had  given  this  province,  was  besieged  in  Laodi- 
cea  by  Cassius,  and  put  an  end  to  his  own  life. 

These  events  took  place  in  B.C.  43.  Brutus  and  Cassius  were 
now  masters  of  the  Roman  world  east  of  the  Adriatic.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  their  enemies  before  long  would  cross  -over  into  Greece ; 
but,  instead  of  concentrating  their  forces  in  that  country,  they  be- 
gan to  plunder  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  in  order  to  obtain  money 
for  their  troops.  Brutus  pillaged  Lycia,  and  Cassius  Rhodes.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  Lycian  town  of  Xanthus  refused  to  submit  to  the 
exactions  of  Brntus,  made  an  heroic  defense  when  they  were  at- 
tacked, and  preferred  to  perish  in  the  flames  of  their  city  rather 
than  to  yield.  Brutus  and  Cassius  were  thus  engaged  when  the 
news  of  the  Triumvirate  and  the  Proscription  reached  them  ;  but 
they  continued  some  time  longer  plundering  in  the  East,  and  it 
was  not  till  the  spring  of  B.C.  42  that  the  Republican  chiefs  at 
length  assembled  their  forces  at  Sardis,  and  prepared  to  march 
into  Europe.  So  much  time,  however,  had  now  been  lost,  that 
Antony  and  Octavian  landed  upon  the  coast  of  Greece,  and  had 
already  commenced  their  march  toward  Macedonia  before  Brutus 
and  Cassius  had  quitted  Asia. 

Brutus  seems  to  have  had  dark  forebodings  of  the  approaching 
struggle.  He  continued  his  studious  habits  during  the  campaign, 
and  limited  his  sleep  to  a  very  short  time.  On  the  night  before  his 
army  crossed  over  into  Europe  he  was  sitting  in  his  tent,  the  lamp 
burning  dim,  and  the  whole  camp  in  deep  silence,  when  he  saw  a 
gigantic  and  terrible  figure  standing  by  him.  He  had  the  courage 
to  ask,  "Who  art  thon,  and  for  what  purpose  dost  thou  come?" 
The  phantom  replied,  "I  am  thy  evil  genius,  Brutus;  we  shall 
meet  again  at  Philippi !"  and  vanished. 

Brutus  and  Cassius  marched  through  Thrace  and  Macedonia  to 
Philippi,  where  they  met  the  army  of  the  Triumvirs.  The  Repub- 
lican leaders  took  up  their  positions  on  two  heights  distant  a  milo 
from  each  other,  Brutus  pitching  his  camp  on  the  northern,  and 
Cassius  on  the  southern,  near  the  sea.  The  camps,  though  separate, 
were  inclosed  with  a  common  intrenchment.  and  midway  between 
them  was  the  pass  which  led  like  a  gate  from  Europe  to  Asia. 
The  Triumvirs  were  on  the  lower  ground,  in  a  less  favorable  posi- 
tion—  Octavian  opposite  Brutus,  and  Antony  opposite  Cassius. 
Their  troops  began  to  suffer  from  want  of  provisions,  and  they  en- 


B.C.  42. 


BATTLE  OF  PHILHTI. 


2G1 


dcavorcd  to  force  the  Republican  leaders  to  an  engagement.  Cas- 
sius  was  unwilling  to  quit  his  strong  position,  and  recommended 
that  they  should  wait  for  their  fleet ;  but  Brutus  was  anxious  to 
put  an  end  to  this  state  of  suspense,  and  persuaded  the  council  to 
risk  an  immediate  battle.  Brutus  himself  defeated  the  army  op- 
posite to  him,  and  penetrated  into  the  camp  of  Octavian,  who  was 
lying  ill,  unable  to  take  part  in  the  battle.  His  litter  was  seized, 
and  brought  forth  covered  with  blood,  and  a  report  spread  that  he 
had  been  killed.  Meantime,  on  the  other  side  of  the  field,  Antony 
had  driven  back  Cassius,  and  taken  his  camp.  Cassius  had  retired 
to  a  neighboring  hill  with  some  of  his  men,  when  he  saw  a  large 
body  of  cavalry  approaching.  Thinking  that  they  belonged  to  the 
enemy  and  that  every  thing  was  lost,  he  ordered  one  of  his  frced- 
men  to  put  an  end  to  his  life.  But  the  cavalry  had  been  sent  by 
Brutus  to  obtain  news  of  Cassius ;  and  when  he  heard  of  the  death 
of  his  colleague,  he  wept  over  him  as  "the  last  of  the  Romans,"  a 
eulogy  which  Cassius  had  done  nothing  to  deserve. 

Twenty  days  after  the  first  battle  Brutus  again  led  out  his  forces  ; 
but  this  time  he  was  completely  defeated,  and  with  difficulty  es- 
caped from  the  field.  He  withdrew  into  a  wood,  and  in  the  night- 
time fell  upon  his  sword,  which  Strato,  who  had  been  his  teacher  in 
rhetoric,  held  for  him.  His  wife  Porcia,  the  daughter  of  Cato,  re- 
solved not  to  survive  her  husband  ;  and,  being  closely  watched  by 
her  relations,  she  put  an  end  to  her  life  by  thrusting  burning  char- 
coal into  her  mouth.  Brutus  was  doubtless  a  sincere  Republican, 
but  he  was  a  man  of  weak  judgment,  deficient  in  knowledge  of 
mankind,  and  more  fitted  for  a  life  of  study  than  the  command  of 
armies  and  the  government  of  men. 


Coin  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra. 


M.  Agrippa. 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

FROM   THE   BATTLE    OF   PHILIPPI   TO   THE    BATTLE    OF   ACTIUM. 
B.C.   41-30. 

THE  battle  of  Philippi  sealed  the  fate  of  the  Republic.  Antony 
remained  in  the  East  to  collect  money  for  the  soldiers.  Octavian, 
who  was  in  ill  health,  returned  to  Italy  to  give  the  veterans  the 
lands  which  had  been  promised  them.  Antony  traversed  Asia 
Minor,  plundering  the  unfortunate  inhabitants,  who  had  already 
suffered  so  severely  from  the  exactions  of  Brutus  and  Cassius.  In 
the  voluptuous  cities  of  Asia  he  surrendered  himself  to  every  kind 
of  sensual  enjoyment.  He  entered  Ephesus  in  the  character  of 
Bacchus,  accompanied  by  a  wild  procession  of  women  dressed  like 
Bacchantes,  and  men  and  youths  disguised  as  Satyrs  and  Pans. 
At  Tarsus,  in  Cilicia,  whither  he  had  gone  to  prepare  for  the  war 
against  the  Parthians,he  was  visited  by  Cleopatra.  He  had  sum- 
moned her  to  his  presence  to  answer  for  her  conduct  in  supplying 
Cassius  with  money  and  provisions.  She  was  now  in  her  28th  year, 
and  in  the  full  maturity  of  her  charms.  In  her  15th  year  her 


B.C.  41.  WAR  OF  PERUSIA.  263 

beauty  had  made  an  impression  on  the  heart  of  Antony,  when  he 
was  at  Alexandria  with  Gabinius,  and  she  now  trusted  to  make  him 
her  willing  slave.  !She  sailed  up  the  Cydnus  to  Tarsus  in  a  mag- 
nificent vessel  with  purple  sails,  propelled  by  silver  oars  to  the 
sound  of  luxurious  music.  She  herself  reclined  under  an  awniug 
spangled  with  gold,  attired  as  Venus  and  fanned  by  Cupids.  The 
most  beautiful  of  her  female  slaves  held  the  rudder  and  the  ropes. 
The  perfumes  burnt  upon  the  vessel  filled  the  banks  of  the  river 
with  their  fragrance.  The  inhabitants  cried  that  Venus  had  come 
to  revel  with  Bacchus.  Antony  accepted  her  invitation  to  sup  on 
board  her  galley,  and  was  completely  subjugated.  Her  wit  and 
vivacity  surpassed  even  her  beauty.  He  followed  her  to  Alexan- 
dria, where  he  forgot  every  thing  in  luxurious  dalliance  and  the 
charms  of  her  society. 

Meantime  important  events  had  been  taking  place  in  Italy.  Oc- 
tavian  found  immense  difficulties  in  satisfying  the  demands  of  the 
veterans.  All  Italy  was  thrown  into  confusion.  Though  he  ex- 
pelled thousands  from  their  homes  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  in  order  to 
give  their  farms  to  his  soldiers,  they  still  clamored  for  more.  Those 
who  had  obtained  assignments  of  land  seized  upon  the  property 
of  their  neighbors,  and  those  who  had  not  were  ready  to  rise  in 
mutiny.  The  country  people,  who  had  been  obliged  to  yield  their 
property  to  the  rude  soldiery,  filled  Italy  with  their  complaints, 
and  flocked  to  Rome  to  implore  in  vain  the  protection  of  Octavian. 
Even  if  he  had  the  wish,  he  had  not  the  power  to  control  his  sol- 
diers. Fulvia,  the  wife  of  Antony,  who  had  remained  behind  in 
Italy,  resolved  to  avail  herself  of  those  elements  of  confusion,  and 
crush  Octavian.  She  was  a  bold  and  ambitious  woman  ;  she  saw 
that,  sooner  or  later,  the  struggle  must  come  between  her  husband 
and  Octavian ;  and,  by  precipitating  the  war,  she  hoped  to  bring 
her  husband  to  Italy,  and  thus  withdraw  him  from  the  influence  of 
Cleopatra.  L.  Antonius,  the  brother  of  the  Triumvir,  who  wa» 
Consul  this  year  (B.C.  41),  entered  into  her  views.  They  pro- 
claimed themselves  the  patrons  of  the  unfortunate  Italians,  and 
also  promised  to  the  discontented  soldiery  that  the  Triumvir  would 
recompense  them  with  the  spoils  of  Asia,  By  these  means  they 
soon  saw  themselves  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force.  They 
even  obtained  possession  of  Rome.  But  Agrippa,  the  ablest  general 
of  Octavian,  forced  them  to  quit  the  city,  and  pressed  them  so  hard 
that  they  were  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Perusia  (Perugia),  one  of 
the  most  powerful  cities  of  Etruria.  Here  they  were  besieged  dun- 
ing  the  winter,  and  suffered  so  dreadfully  from  famine  that  they 
found  themselves  compelled  to  capitulate  in  the  following  spring. 
The  lives  of  L.  Antonius  and  Fulvia  were  spared,  but  the  chief  cit- 


264  HISTORY  OF  ROME.        CHAP.  XXXTU 

izcns  of  Pcrusia  itself  were  put  to  death,  and  the  town  burnt  to 
the  ground. 

While  Antony's  friends  were  thus  unfortunate  in  Italy,  his  own 
forces  experienced  a  still  greater  disaster  in  the  East.  Q.  Labienus, 
the  son  of  Caesar's  old  lieutenant  in  Gaul,  had  been  sent  by  Brutus 
and  Cassius  to  seek  aid  from  Orodes,  the  king  of  Parthia.  He  was 
in  that  country  when  the  news  arrived  of  the  battle  of  Philippi,  and 
had  remained  there  up  to  the  present  time.  The  war  in  Italy,  and 
Antony's  indolence  at  Alexandria,  held  out  a  favorable  opportunity 
for  the  invasion  of  the  Roman  provinces.  Orodes  placed  a  large 
army  under  the  command  of  Labienus  and  his  own  son  Pacorus. 
They  crossed  the  Euphrates  in  B.C.  40,  and  carried  every  thing  be- 
fore them.  Antony's  troops  were  defeated  ;  the  two  powerful  cities 
of  Antioch  and  Apamca  were  taken,  and  the  whole  of  Syria  over- 
run by  the  Parthians.  Pacorus  penetrated  as  far  south  as  Pales- 
tine, and  Labiemis  invaded  Cilicia.  Such  alarming  news,  loth 
from  Italy  and  the  East,  at  length  aroused  Antony  from  his  volup- 
tuous dreams.  Leaving  his  lieutenant  Ventidius  in  Syria  to  con- 
duct the  war  against  the  Parthians,  Antony  sailed  to  Athens,  where 
he  met  his  brother  and  wife.  He  now  formed  an  alliance  with 
Sextus  Pompey,  sailed  to  Italy,  and  laid  siege  to  Brundusium. 
Another  civil  war  seemed  inevitable ;  but  the  soldiers  on  both  sides 
were  eager  for  peace,  and  mutual  friends  persuaded  the  chiefs  to 
be  reconciled,  which  was  the  more  easily  effected  in  consequence 
of  the  death  of  Fulvia  at  Sicyon.  A  new  division  of  the  Roman 
world  was  now  made.  Antony  was  to  have  all  the  eastern  prov- 
inces and  Octavian  the  western,  the  town  of  Scodra,  in  Illyricum, 
forming  the  boundary  between  them.  Italy  was  to  belong  to  them 
in  common.  Lepidus  was  allowed  to  retain  possession  of  Africa, 
which  he  had  received  after  the  battle  of  Philippi,  but  he  had  ceased 
to  be  of  any  political  importance.  It  was  agreed  that  Antony 
should  carry  on  the  war  against  the  Parthians,  and  that  Octavian 
should  subdue  Pompey,  whom  Antony  readily  sacrificed.  The 
Consuls  were  to  be  selected  alternately  from  the  friends  of  each. 
To  cement  the  alliance,  Antony  was  to  marry  Octavia,  the  sister  of 
Octavian  and  widow  of  C.  Marcellus,  one  of  the  noblest  women  of 
her  age.  The  two  Triumvirs  then  repaired  to  Rome  to  celebrate 
the  marriage.  These  events  took  place  toward  the  end  of  B.C.  40. 

Discontent,  however,  prevailed  at  Rome.  Sextus  Pompey,  who 
had  been  excluded  from  the  peace,  still  continued  master  of  the 
sea,  and  intercepted  the  ships  which  supplied  the  city  Avith  corn. 
The  people  were  in  want  of  bread,  and  became  so  exasperated  that 
Octavian  and  Antony  found  it  necessary  to  enter  into  negotiations 
with  Pompey.  An  interview  took  place  between  the  chiefs  at 


B.C.  3S-37.      WAR  WITH  SEXTUS  POMPEY.  2G5 

Cape  Miscnura.  It  was  agreed  thatPompey  should  receive  Sicily, 
Sardinia,  Corsica,  and  Achaia,  and  that  he  should  send  to  Rome  an 
immediate  supply  of  corn.  The  chiefs  then  feasted  one  another, 
and  Pompey  entertained  Octavian  and  Antony  on  board  his  own 
galley.  When  the  banquet  was  at  its  height,  a  Greek  named  Me- 
nas,  or  Menodorus,  one  of  Pompey's  captains,  whispered  to  him, 
"  Shall  I  cut  off  the  anchors  of  the  ship,  and  make  you  master  of 
the  Roman  world  ?"  To  which  Pompey  made  the  well-known  re- 
ply, "You  ought  to  have  done  it  without  asking  me."  The  two 
Triumvirs,  on  their  return  to  Rome,  were  received  with  shouts  of 
applause.  The  civil  wars  seemed  to  have  come  to  an  end  (B.C.  39). 

Antony,  with  Octavia,  returned  to  the  East,  where  he  found  that 
his  legate  Vcntidius  had  gained  the  most  brilliant  success  over  the 
Parthians.  This  man  was  a  native  of  Picenum,  and  originally  a 
mule-driver.  He  was  taken  prisoner  in  the  Social  War,  and  walked 
in  chains  in  the  triumphal  procession  of  Pompeius  Strato.  He  was 
made  Tribune  of  the  Plebs  by  Julius  Cassar,  and  was  raised  to  the 
Consulship  in  B.C.  43.  In  the  Parthian  War  he  displayed  military 
abilities  of  no  ordinary  kind.  He  first  defeated  Labienus,  took  him 
prisoner  in  Cilicia,  and  put  him  to  death.  He  then  entered  Syria, 
and  drove  Pacorus  beyond  the  Euphrates.  In  the  following  year 
(B.C.  38)  the  Parthians  again  entered  Syria,  but  Ventidius  gained 
a  signal  victory  over  them,  and  Pacorus  himself  fell  in  the  battle. 

The  treaty  between  Sextus  Pompey  and  the  Triumvirs  did  not 
last  long.  Antony  refused  to  give  up  Achaia,  and  Pompey  there- 
fore recommenced  his  piratical  excursions.  The  price  of  provisions 
at  Rome  immediately  rose,  and  Octavian  found  it  necessary  to  com- 
mence war  immediately ;  but  his  fleet  was  twice  defeated  by  Pom- 
pey, and  was  at  last  completely  destroyed  by  a  storm  (B.C.  38). 
This  failure  only  proved  the  necessity  of  making  still  more  extensive 
preparations  to  carry  on  the  war  with  success.  The  power  of  Oc- 
tavian was  insecure  as  long  as  Pompey  was  master  of  the  sea,  and 
could  deprive  Rome  of  her  supplies  of  corn.  Nearly  two  years  were 
spent  in  building  a  new  fleet,  and  exercising  the  newly-raised  crews 
and  rowers.  The  command  of  the  fleet  and  the  superintendence 
of  all  the  necessary  preparations  for  the  war  were  intrusted  to  Agrip- 
pa.  In  order  to  obtain  a  perfectly  secure  and  land-locked  basin 
for  his  fleet,  and  thus  secure  it  against  any  sudden  surprise,  he  con- 
structed the  celebrated  Julius  Portus  on  the  coast  of  Campania, 
near  Baiae,  by  connecting  the  inland  Lake  Avernus,by  means  of  a 
canal,  with  the  Lake  Lucrinus,  and  by  strengthening  the  latter  lake 
against  the  sea  by  an  artificial  dike  or  dam.  While  he  was  en- 
gaged in  these  great  works,  Antony  sailed  to  Tarentum,  in  is.c.  37, 
with  300  ships.  Maecenas  hastened  thither  from  Rome,  and  sue- 


5J06  HISTORY  OF  ROME.        CHAP.  XXXVII. 

cceded  once  more  in  concluding  an  amicable  arrangement.  He 
w:is  accompanied  on  this  occasion  by  Horace,  who  has  immortalized, 
in  a  well-known  satire,  his  journey  from  Rome  to  Brundusium. 
Octnviun  and  Antony  met  between  Tarentum  and  Metapontum ; 
the  Triumvirate  was  renewed  for  another  period  of  five  years ;  An- 
tony agreed  to  leave  120  ships  to  assist  in  the  war  against  Pompey, 
and  Octavian  promised  to  send  a  land  force  to  the  East  for  the 
campaign  against  the  Parthians. 

Octavian,  now  relieved  of  all  anxiety  on  the  part  of  Antony, 
urged  on  his  preparations  with  redoubled  vigor.  By  the  summer 
of  B.C.  36  he  was  ready  to  commence  operations.  He  had  three 
large  fleets  at  his  disposal :  his  own,  stationed  in  the  Julian  harbor ; 
that  of  Antony,  under  the  command  of  Statilius  Taurus,  in  the  har- 
bor of  Tarentum ;  and  that  of  Lepidus,  off  the  coast  of  Africa.  His 
plan  was  for  all  three  fleets  to  set  sail  on  the  same  day,  and  make 
a  descent  upon  three  different  parts  of  Sicily ;  but  a  fearful  storm 
marred  this  project.  Lepidus  alone  reached  the  coast  of  Sicily, 
and  landed  at  Lilybaeum  ;  Statilius  Taurus  was  able  to  put  back  to 
Tarentum  ;  but  Octavian,  who  was  surprised  by  the  storm  off  the 
Lucanian  promontory  of  Palinurus,  lost  a  great  number  of  his  ships, 
and  was  obliged  to  remain  in  Italy  to  repair  his  shattered  fleet. 
As  soon  as  the  ships  had  been  refitted,  Octavian  again  set  sail  for 
Sicily.  Agrippa  defeated  Pompey's  fleet  off  Mylae,  destroying  30 
of  his  ships ;  but  the  decisive  battle  was  fought  on  the  3d  of  Sep- 
tember (B.C.  3G),  off  Naulochus,  a  sea-port  between  Mylae  and  the 
promontory  of  Pelorus.  Agrippa  gained  a  brilliant  victory  ;  most 
of  the  Pompeian  vessels  were  destroyed  or  taken.  Pompey  himself 
fled  to  Lesbos  with  a  squadron  of  17  ships.  Octavian  did  not  pur- 
sue him,  as  Lepidus,  who  was  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force, 
now  claimed  Sicily  for  himself,  and  an  equal  share  as  Triumvir  in 
the  government  of  the  Roman  world ;  but  Octavian  found  means  to 
seduce  his  soldiers  from  their  allegiance ;  and  Lepidus  was  at  last 
obliged  to  surrender  to  Octavian,  and  to  throw  himself  upon  his 
mercy.  His  life  was  granted,  but  he  was  deprived  of  his  Triumvi- 
rate, his  army,  and  his  provinces,  and  was  compelled  to  retire  to  Ita- 
ly as  a  private  person.  He  was  allowed,  however,  to  retain  his  prop- 
erty and  the  dignity  of  Pontifex  Maximus.  He  lived  till  B.C.  13.. 

In  B.C.  35  Pompey  crossed  over  from  Lesbos  to  Asia,  with  the 
view  of  seizing  that  province ;  but  he  was  easily  crushed  by  the 
lieutenants  of  Antony,  was  taken  prisoner  as  he  attempted  to  escape 
to  Armenia,  and  was  put  to  death  at  Miletus.  By  the  death  of 
Pompey  and  the  deposition  of  Lepidus,  Antony  and  Octavian  were 
now  left  without  a  rival,  and  Antony's  mad  love  for  Cleopatra  soon 
made  Octavian  the  undisputed  master  of  the  Roman  world. 


B.C.  37-32.  ANTONY  JN  THE  EAST.  267 

After  Antony's  marriage  with  Octavia  in  B.C.  40,  lie  seems  for  a 
time  to  liave  forgotten,  or,  at  least,  conquered  the  fascinations  of 
the  Egyptian  queen.  For  the  next  three  years  he  resided  in  Ath- 
ens with  his  wife ;  but  after  his  visit  to  Italy,  and  the  renewal  of 
the  Triumvirate  in  B.C.  37,  he  left  Octavia  behind  at  Tarentum, 
and  determined  to  carry  out  his  long-projected  campaign  against 
the  Parthiuns.  As  he  approached  Syria,  "that  great  evil,"  as 
Plutarch  calls  it,  his  passion  for  Cleopatra,  burst  forth  with  more 
vehemence  than  ever.  From  this  time  she  appears  as  his  evil  gen- 
ius. He  summoned  her  to  him  at  Laodicea,  and  loaded  her  with 
honors  and  favors.  He  added  to  her  dominions  Phoenicia,  Ccele- 
Syria,  Cyprus,  a  large  part  of  Cilicia,  Palestine,  and  Arabia,  and 
publicly  recognized  the  children  she  had  borne  him.  Although  he 
had  collected  a  large  army  to  invade  the  Parthian  empire,  he  was 
unable  to  tear  himself  away  from  the  enchantress,  and  did  not  com- 
mence his  march  till  late  in  the  year.  The  expedition  proved  most 
disastrous ;  the  army  suffered  from  want  of  provisions,  and  Antony 
found  himself  compelled  to  retreat.  He  narrowly  escaped  the  fate 
of  Crassus,  and  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  lie  succeeded 
in  reaching  the  Armenian  mountains,  after  losing  the  best  part  of 
his  troops. 

Antony  returned  to  Alexandria,  and  surrendered  himself  entire- 
ly to  Cleopatra.  In  B.C.  34  he  made  a  short  campaign  into  Arme- 
nia, and  succeeded  in  obtaining  possession  of  Artavasdas,  the  Ar- 
menian king.  He  carried  him  to  Alexandria,  and,  to  the  great 
scandal  of  all  the  Komans,  entered  the  city  in  triumph,  with  all  the 
pomp  and  ceremonial  of  the  Roman  pageant.  He  now  laid  aside 
entirely  the  character  of  a  Roman  citizen,  and  assumed  the  state 
and  dress  of  an  Eastern  monarch.  Instead  of  the  toga  he  wore  a 
robe  of  purple,  and  his  head  was  crowned  with  a  diadem.  Some- 
times he  assumed  the  character  of  Osiris,  while  Cleopatra  appeared 
at  his  side  as  Isis.  He  gave  the  title  of  kings  to  Alexander  and 
Ptolemy,  his  sons  by  Cleopatra.  The  Egyptian  queen  already 
dreamed  of  reigning  over  the  Roman  world. 

While  Antony  was  disgusting  the  Romans  and  alienating  his 
friends  and  supporters  by  his  senseless  follies,  Octavian  had  been 
restoring  order  to  Italy,  and,  by  his  wise  and  energetic  administra- 
tion, was  slowly  repairing  the  evils  of  the  civil  wars.  In  order  to 
give  security  to  the  frontiers  and  employment  to  the  troops,  he  at- 
tacked the  barbarians  on  the  north  of  Italy  and  Greece,  and  sub- 
dued the  lapydes,  Pannonians,  and  Dalmatians.  He  carried  on 
these  wars  in  person,  and  won  the  affection  of  the  soldiers  by  shar- 
ing their  dangers  and  hardships. 

The  contrast  between  the  two  Triumvirs  was  sufficiently  strik- 


268 


HISTORY  OF  ROME.        CHAP.  XXXVII. 


ing,  but  Octavian  called  attention  to  the  follies  of  Antony.  Letters 
passed  between  them  full  of  mutual  recriminations,  and  both  par- 
tics  began  to  prepare  for  the  inevitable  struggle.  Toward  the  end 
of  B.C.  32  the  Senate  declared  war  against  Cleopatra,  for  Antony 
was  regarded  as  her  slave.*  The  five  years  of  the  Triumvirate 
had  expired  on  the  last  day  of  this  year ;  and  on  the  1st  of  Janu- 
ary, B.C.  81,  Octavian,  as  Consul  of  the  Republic,  proceeded  to  carry 
on  the  war  against  the  Egyptian  queen.  The  hostile  fleets  and  ar- 
mies assembled  on  the  western  coasts  of  Greece.  Antony's  fleet 
was  superior  both  in  number  and  size  of  the  ships,  but  they  were 
clumsy  and  unmanageable.  They  were  anchored  in  the  Ambra- 

ciotGulf,  in  the  modern 
Hay  of  Precesa.  (Sec 
Plan,  P.)  The  army 
was  encamped  on  the 
promontory  of  Actium 
(Plan,  3),  which  has 
given  its  name  to  the 
battle.  The  fleet  of 
Octavian  consisted  of 
light  Liburnian  vessels, 
manned  by  crews  which 
had  gained  experience 
in  the  wars  against  Scx- 
tus  Pompey.  It  was 
under  the  command  of 
the  able  Agrippa,  who  took  up  his  station  at  Corcyra,  and  swept  the 
Adriatic  Sea.  Octavian  in  person  took  the  command  of  the  land 
forces,  which  were  encamped  on  the  coast  of  Epirus  opposite  Acti- 
um, on  the  spot  where  Nicopolis  afterward  stood.  (Plan,  1.)  The 
generals  of  Antony  strongly  urged  him  to  fight  on  land ;  but  the 
desertions  among  his  troops  were  numerous;  Cleopatra  became 
alarmed  for  her  safety ;  and  it  was  therefore  resolved  to  sacrifice  the 
army,  and  retire  with  the  fleet  to  Egypt.  But  Agrippa  was  on  the 
watch,  and  Antony  had  no  sooner  sailed  outside  the  strait  than  he 
was  compelled  to  fight.  The  battle  was  still  undecided  and  equally 
favorable  to  both  parties,  when  Cleopatra,  whose  vessels  were  at  an- 
chor in  the  rear,  taking  advantage  of  a  favorable  breeze  which  sprang 
up,  sailed  through  the  midst  of  the  combatants  with  her  squadron 
of  GO  ships,  and  made  for  the  coast  of  Peloponnesus.  When  An- 
tony saw  her  flight,  he  hastily  followed  her,  forgetting  every  thing 
else,  and  shamefully  deserting  those  who  were  fighting  and  dying 
in  his  cause.  The  remainder  of  the  fleet  was  destroyed  before 
*  Antony  retaliated  by  Bending  Octavia  a  bill  of  divorce. 


Plan  of  Actium. 


1.  Nicopolis. 

2.  C.laScara. 


P.  Bay 


J3.  P 
5.  T 
fremaa. 


i.  Actium. 
Temple  of  Apollo. 


B.C.30.  DEATH  OF  ANTONY  AND  CLEOPATRA.    269 

night-time.  The  army,  after  a  few  days'  hesitation,  surrendered, 
and  Octavian  pardoned  all  the  officers  who  sued  for  his  favor. 
The  battle  of  Actium  was  fought  on  the  2d  of  September,  B.C.  31, 
from  which  day  the  reign  of  Octavian  is  to  be  dated. 

Octavian  did  not  follow  Antony  to  Alexandria  for  nearly  twelve 
months  after  the  battle  of  Actium.  He  sent  Agrippa  to  Italy  with 
his  veteran  troops,  and  himself  passed  the  winter  at  Samos ;  but  he 
could  not  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  soldiers,  who  broke  out  into 
open  mutiny.  Octavian  hastened  to  Brundusium,  and  witli  diffi- 
culty raised  a  sufficient  sum  of  money  to  calm  their  discontent. 

This  respite  was  of  no  service  to  Antony  and  Cleopatra.  They 
knew  that  resistance  was  hopeless,  and  therefore  sent  cmbassadors 
to  Octavian  to  solicit  his  favor.  To  Antony  no  answer  was  given, 
but  to  Cleopatra  hopes  were  held  out  if  she  would  betray  her  lover. 
She  began  to  flatter  herself  that  her  charms,  which  had  fascinated 
both  Caesar  and  Antony,  might  conquer  Octavian,  who  was  younger 
than  either.  Octavian  at  length  appeared  before  Pelusium,  which 
surrendered  to  him  without  resistance.  He  then  marched  upon 
Alexandria.  Antony,  encouraged  by  some  slight  success  in  an  ac- 
tion with  the  cavalry,  prepared  to  resist  Octavian  both  by  sea  and 
land ;  but  as  soon  as  the  Egyptian  ships  approached  those  of  Octa- 
vian, the  crews  saluted  them  with  their  oars  and  passed  over  to 
their  side.  Antony's  cavalry  also  deserted  him,  his  infantry  was 
easily  repulsed,  and  he  fled  to  Alexandria,  crying  out  that  he  was 
betrayed  by  Cleopatra. 

The  queen  had  shut  herself  up  in  a  mausoleum  which  she  had 
built  to  receive  her  body  after  death,  and  where  she  had  collected 
her  most  valuable  treasures.  Hearing  of  Antony's  defeat,  she  sent 
persons  to  inform  him  that  she  was  dead.  He  fell  into  the  snare ; 
they  had  promised  not  to  survive  one  another,  and  Antony  stabbed 
himself.  He  was  drawn  up  into  the  mausoleum,  and  died  in  her 
arms.  She  was  apprehended  by  the  officers  of  Octavian,  and  a  few 
days  afterward  had  an  interview  with  the  conqueror.  Her  charms, 
however,  failed  in  softening  the  colder  heart  of  Octavian.  He  only 
"bade  her  be  of  good  cheer  and  fear  no  violence."  Soon  after- 
ward she  learned  that  she  was  to  be  sent  to  Rome  in  three  days' 
time.  This  news  decided  her.  On  the  following  day  she  was 
found  lying  dead  on  a  golden  couch  in  royal  attire,  with  her  two 
women  lifeless  at  her  feet.  The  manner  of  her  death  was  un- 
known. It  was  generally  believed  that  she  had  died  by  the  bite 
of  an  asp,  which  a  peasant  had  brought  to  her  in  a  basket  full  of 
figs.  She  was  39  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her  death.  Egypt 
was  made  a  Roman  province.  Octavian  did  not  return  to  Rome 
till  u.c.  29,  when  he  celebrated  a  threefold  triumph  over  the  Pan- 


270  HISTORY  OF  ROME.        CHAP.  XXXVII. 

nonians,  Dalmatians,  and  Egypt.  The  Temple  of  Janus  was  closed 
for  the  third  time  in  Roman  history.  The  exhausted  Roman  world, 
longing  tor  repose,  gladly  acquiesced  in  the  sole  rule  of  Octavinn. 
The  Senate  conferred  upon  him  numerous  honors  and  distinctions, 
with  the  title  of  Imperator  for  life. 

Thus  ended  the  Roman  Republic,  an  end  to  which  it  had  been 
tending  for  the  last  hundred  years.  The  corruption  and  demoral- 
ization of  all  classes  had  rendered  a  Republic  almost  an  impossi- 
bility ;  and  the  civil  dissensions  of  the  state  had  again  and  again 
invested  one  or  more  persons  with  despotic  authority.  The  means 
which  Augustus  employed  to  strengthen  and  maintain  his  power 
belong  to  a  history  of  the  Empire.  He  proceeded  with  the  caution 
which  was  his  greatest  characteristic.  He  refused  the  names  of 
King  and  Dictator,  and  was  contented  with  the  simple  appellation 
of  Princejis,  which  had  always  been  given  to  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  Senate.  He  received,  however,  in  B.C. 
27,  the  novel  title  of  Augustus,  that  is,  "the  sacred,"  or  "  the  ven- 
erable," which  was  afterward  assumed  by  all  the  Roman  emperors 
as  a  surname.  As  Imperator  he  had  the  command  of  the  Roman 
armies ;  and  the  tribunitian  and  proconsular  powers  which  the 
Senate  conferred  upon  him  made  him  absolute  master  of  the  state. 
He  made  a  new  division  of  the  provinces,  allowing  the  Senate  to  ap- 
point the  governors  of  those  which  were  quiet  and  long-settled,  like 
Sicily,  Achaia,  and  Asia,  but  retaining  for  himself  such  as  required 
the  presence  of  an  army,  which  were  governed  by  means  of  his  Le- 
gati.  On  the  death  of  Lepidus  in  B.C.  13,  he  succeeded  him  as 
Pontifex  Maximus,  and  thus  became  the  head  of  the  Roman  re- 
ligion. While  he  thus  united  in  his  own  person  all  the  great  offices 
of  state,  he  still  allowed  the  Consuls,  Prators,  and  other  magistrates 
of  the  Republic  to  be  annually  elected.  "In  a  few  words,  the 
system  of  Imperial  government,  as  it  was  instituted  by  Octavian, 
and  maintained  by  those  princes  who  understood  their  own  interest 
and  that  of  the  people,  may  be  defined  as  an  absolute  government, 
disguised  by  the  form  of  a  commonwealth.  The  masters  of  the 
Roman  world  surrounded  their  throne  with  darkness,  concealed 
their  irresistible  strength,  and  humbly  professed  themselves  the  ac- 
countable ministers  of  the  Senate,  whose  supreme  decrees  they  dic- 
'tatcd  and  obeyed."* 

«  Gibbon. 


Horace. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

SKETCH    OF   THE    HISTORY   OF    ROMAN    LITERATURE,  FROM   THE 
EARLIEST   TIMES    TO   THE   DEATH    OF   AUGUSTUS. 

FOR  many  centuries  after  the  foundation  of  the  city  the  Romans 
can  hardly  be  said  to  have  had  any  literature  at  all.  There  may 
have  existed,  at  an  early  period,  some  songs  or  ballads,  recounting, 
in  rude  strains,*  the  exploits  of  the  heroes  of  Roman  story,  but  all 
trace  of  these  has  disappeared.  It  was  not  till  the  conquest  of  the 
Greek  cities  in  Southern  Italy,  shortly  before  the  First  Tunic  War, 
that  we  can  date  the  commencement  of  the  Roman  literature.  It 
began  with  the  Drama.  Dramatic  exhibitions  were  first  introduced 
at  Rome  from  Etruria  in  B.C.  303,  on  the  occasion  of  a  severe  pest- 
ilence, in  order  to  avert  the  anger  of  the  gods.  But  these  exhibi- 
tions were  only  pantomimic  scenes  to  the  music  of  the  flute,  with- 
out any  song  or  dialogue.  It  was  not  till  B.C.  240  that  a  drama 
with  a  regular  plot  was  performed  at  Rome.  Its  author  was  M. 
LIVIUS  ANDRONICUS,  a  native  of  Magna  Gracia,  who  was  taken 
prisoner  at  the  capture  of  Tarentum,  and  carried  to  Rome,  where 
he  became  the  slave  of  M.  Livius  Salinator.  He  was  afterward  set 
free,  and,  according  to  Roman  practice,  took  the  gentilic  name  of 
his  master.  He  acquired  at  Rome  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  Lat- 
in language,  and  wrote  both  tragedies  and  comedies,  which  were 
borrowed,  or,  rather,  translated  from  the  Greek.  He  also  wrote 
an  Odyssey  in  the  Saturnian  metre,  and  some  hymns.  He  may  he 

*  These  were  probably  composed  in  the  Snturn;an  metro,  the  oldest  fpecics  of 
versification  among  the  Romans,  in  which  much  greater  license  was  allowed  in 
the  laws  of  quantity  than  in  the  metres  which  were  borrowed  from  the  Greeks. 


B.C.  235-22.5.          ROMAN  LITERATURE.  273 

regarded  as  the  first  Roman  poet.  Hjs  works  were  read  in  schools 
iu  the  time  of  Horace. 

CN.  N^EVIUS,  the  second  Roman  poet,  was  a  Campanian  by  birth. 
He  served  in  the  First  Punic  War,  and,  like  Livius,  wrote  dramag 
borrowed  from  the  Greek.  His  first  play  was  performed  in  B.C.  235. 
He  was  attached  to  the  Plebeian  party ;  and,  with  the  license  of  the 
old  Attic  comedy,  he  made  the  stage  a  vehicle  for  assailing  the  ar- 
istocracy. In  consequence  of  his  attacks  upon  the  Metelli  he  was 
thrown  into  prison.  He  obtained  his  release  through  the  Tribunes, 
but  was  soon  compelled  to  expiate  a  new  offense  by  exile.  He  re- 
tired to  Utica,  where  he  died  about  B.C.  202.  In  his  exile  he  wrote, 
in  the  Saturnian  metre,  an  epic  poem  on  the  First  Punic  War,  in 
which  he  introduced  the  celebrated  legends  connected  with  the 
foundation  of  Rome.  This  poem  was  extensively  copied  both  by 
Ennius  and  Virgil. 

Q.  ENNIUS,  however,  may  be  regarded  as  the  real  founder  of  Ro- 
man literature.  Like  Livius,  he  was  a  native  of  Magna  Gracia. 
He  was  born  at  Rudiaj,  in  Calabria,  B.C.  239.  Cato  found  him  in 
Sardinia  in  B.C.  204,  and  brought  him  in  his  train  to  Rome.  He 
dwelt  in  a  humble  house  on  the  Aventine,  and  maintained  himself 
by  acting  as  preceptor  to  the  youths  of  the  Roman  nobles.  He 
lived  on  terms  of  the  closest  intimacy  with  the  elder  Scipio  Afri- 
canus.  He  died  B.C.  169,  at  the  age  of  70.  He  was  buried  in  the 
sepulchre  of  the  Scipios,  and  his  bust  was  allowed  a  place  among 
the  effigies  of  that  noble  house.  His  most  important  work  was  an 
epic  poem,  entitled  the  "Annals  of  Rome,"  in  18  books,  written  in 
dactylic  hexameters,  which,  through  his  example,  supplanted  the 
old  Saturnian  metre.  This  poem  commenced  with  the  loves  of 
Mars  and  Rhea,  and  came  down  to  the  age  of  Ennius.  Virgil  bor- 
rou  ed  largely  from  it ;  and,  down  to  his  time,  it  was  regarded  as 
the  great  epic  poem  of  the  Latin  language.  He  also  wrote  numer- 
ous tragedies,  a  few  comedies,  and  several  other  works,  such  as 
Satires,  composed  in  a  great  variety  of  metres,  from  which  circum- 
stance they  probably  received  their  name. 

The  comic  drama  of  Rome,  though  it  continued  to  be  more  or 
less  a  translation  or  an  imitation  of  the  Greek,  was  cultivated  with 
distinguished  success  by  two  writers  of  genius,  several  of  whose 
plays  are  still  extant. 

T.MACCIUS  PLAUTUS  was  a  native  of  Sarsina,  a  small  village  in 
Umbria,  and  was  born  about  B.C.  254.  He  probably  came  to  Rome 
at  an  early  age,  and  was  first  employed  in  the  service  of  the  actors. 
With  the  money  he  had  saved  in  this  inferior  station  he  left  Rome, 
and  set  up  in  business ;  but  his  speculations  failed  :  he  returned  to 
liome,  and  his  necessities  obliged  him  to  enter  the  service  of  a 

S 


274  HISTORY  OF  HOME.       CHAP. XXXVIII. 

baker,  who  employed  him  in  turning  a  hand-mill.  While  in  this 
degrading  occupation  he  wrote  three  plays,  the  sale  of  which  to  the 
managers  of  the  public  games  enabled  him  to  quit  his  drudgery, 
and  begin  his  literary  career.  He  was  then  about  30  years  of  age 
(B.C.  224),  and  continued  to  write  for  the  stage  for  about  40  years. 
He  died  in  B.C.  184,  when  he  was  70  years  of  age.  The  comedies 
of  Plautus  enjoyed  unrivaled  popularity  among  the  Romans,  and 
continued  to  be  represented  down  to  the  time  of  Diocletian. 
Though  they  were  founded  upon  Greek  models,  the  characters  in 
them  act,  speak,  and  joke  like  genuine  Romans,  and  the  poet 
thereby  secured  the  sympathy  of  his  audience  more  completely 
than  Terence.  It  was  not  only  with  the  common  people  that  Plau- 
tus was  a  favorite ;  educated  Romans  read  and  admired  his  works 
down  to  the  latest  times.  Cicero  places  his  wit  on  a  level  with 
that  of  the  old  Attic  comedy ;  and  St.  Jerome  used  to  console  him- 
self with  the  perusal  of  the  poet,  after  spending  many  nights  in 
tears  on  account  of  his  past  sins.  The  favorable  impression  which 
the  ancients  entertained  of  the  merits  of  Plautus  has  been  confirmed 
by  the  judgment  of  modern  critics,  and  by  the  fact  that  several  of 
his  plays  have  been  imitated  by  many  of  the  best  modern  poets. 
Twenty  of  his  comedies  are  extant. 

P.  TERENTIUS  AFER,  usually  called  TERENCE,  was  bora  at  Car, 
thagc,  B.C.  195.  By  birth  or  purchase  he  became  the  slave  of  P. 
Terentius,  a  Roman  senator,  who  afforded  him  the  best  education 
of  the  age,  and  finally  gave  him  his  freedom.  The  Aiidria,  which 
was  the  first  play  of  Terence  acted  (B.C.  10G),  was  the  means  of  in- 
troducing him  to  the  most  refined  and  intellectual  circles  of  Rome. 
His  chief  patrons  were  Laslins  and  the  younger  Scipio,  both  of  whom 
treated  him  as  an  equal,  and  arc  said  even  to  have  assisted  him  in 
the  composition  of  his  plays.  He  died  in  the  3Gth  year  of  his  age, 
in  B.C.  159.  Six  comedies  are  all  that  remain  to  us.  The  ancient 
critics  are  unanimous  in  ascribing  to  Terence  immaculate  purity 
and  elegance  of  language.  Although  a  foreigner  and  a  freedman, 
he  divides  with  Cicer.o  and  Caesar  the  palm  of  pure  Latinity. 

There  were  two  other  comic  poets,  whose  works  are  lost,  but  who 
enjoyed  a  great  reputation  among  the  Romans.  Q.  C^ECILIUS  was 
a  native  of  Milan,  and,  like  Terence,  came  to  Rome  as  a  slave.  He 
was  the  immediate  predecessor  of  Terence,  and  died  B.C.  168,  two 
years  before  the  representation  of  the  Andria.  L.  AFRANIUS  flour- 
ished B.C.  100,  and  wrote  comedies  describing  Roman  scenes  and 
manners,  called  Comccdice  Togata?,  to  distinguish  them  from  those 
depicting  Grecian  life,  which  were  termed  Palliatce,  from  pallium, 
the  national  dress  of  the  Greeks. 

There  were  two  tragic  poets  contemporary  with  Terence,  who  also 


B.C.  220.  ROMAN  LITERATURE.  275 

enjoyed  great  celebrity,  though  their  works  have  likewise  perished. 
M.  PACUVIUS,  son  of  the  sister  of  Ennius,  was  born  about  H.C.  220, 
nnd  died  in  the  DOth  year  of  his  age.  lie  is  praised  by  the  Latin 
writers  for  the  loftiness  of  his  thoughts,  the  vigor  of  his  language, 
and  the  extent  of  his  knowledge.  Hence  we  find  the  epithet  doctus 
frequently  applied  to  him.  Most  of  his  tragedies  were  taken  from 
the  Greek  writers ;  but  some  belonged  to  the  class  called  Prictex- 
tatce,  in  which  the  subjects  were  taken  from  Roman  story.  One  of 
these,  entitled  Paullus,  had  as  its  hero  L.  JEmilius  Paullus,  the 
conqueror  of  Perseus,  king  of  Macedonia.  L.  Accius,  a  younger 
contemporary  of  Pacuvius,  was  born  u.c.  170,  and  lived  to  a  great 
age.  Cicero,  when  a  young  man,  frequently  conversed  with  him. 
His  tragedies,  like  those  of  Pacuvius,  were  chiefly  imitations  of  the 
Greek ;  but  he  also  wrote  some  on  Roman  subjects,  one  of  which 
was  entitled  Brutus. 

Though  the  Roman  Drama,  properly  so  called,  was  derived  from 
the  Greeks,  there  were  some  kinds  of  dramatic  exhibitions  which 
were  of  Italian  origin.  The  first  of  these  were  the  A  lellance  Falmlce, 
or  Atellane  Plays,  which  took  their  name  from  Atella,  a  town  in 
Campania.  They  were  composed  in  the  Oscan  dialect,  and  were 
at  first  rude  extemporaneous  farces,  but  were  afterward  divided  into 
acts  like  a  regular  drama.  They  seem  to  have  been  the  origin  of 
the  Policinello  of  modern  Italy.  The  Oscan  dialect  was  preserved 
even  when  they  were  introduced  at  Rome.  The  Mimes  were  an- 
other species  of  comedy,  of  which  only  the  name  seems  to  have 
been  derived  from  the  Greek.  They  were  a  species  of  low  comedy 
of  an  indecent  description,  in  which  the  dialogue  was  subordinate 
to  mimicry  and  gesture.  The  Dictator  Sulla  was  very  fond  of 
these  performances.  The  two  most  distinguished  writers  of  Mimes 
were  DKC.  LABERICS,  a  knight,  and  P.  SYKUS,  a  freedman,  and 
originally  a  Syrian  slave,  both  of  whom  were  contemporaries  of  Ju- 
lius Caesar.  At  Caesar's  triumphal  games  in  October,  B.C.  45,  P. 
Syrus  challenged  all  his  craft  to  a  trial  of  wit  in  extemporaneous 
farce,  and  Crcsar  offered  Laberius  500,000  sesterces  to  appear  on 
the  stage.  Labei  ius  was  GO  years  old,  and  the  profession  of  a  mi- 
mus  was  infamous,  but  the  wish  of  the  Dictator  was  equivalent  to 
a  command,  and  he  reluctantly  complied.  He  had,  however,  re- 
venge in  his  power,  and  took  it.  His  prologue  awakened  compas- 
sion, and  perhaps  indignation ;  and  during  the  performance  he 
adroitly  availed  himself  of  his  various  characters  to  point  his  wit 
at  Caesar.  In  the  person  of  a  beaten  Syrian  slave  he  cried  out, 
"Marry!  Quirites,  but  we  lose  our  freedom,"  and  all  eyes  were 
turned  upon  the  Dictator;  and  in  another  mime  lie  uttered  the 
pregnant  maxim,  "  Needs  must  he  fear  who  makes  all  else 


27G  HISTORY  OF  ROME.       CHAP.  XXXVJ II. 

adrcad."  Caesar,  impartially  or  vindictively,  awarded  the  prize  to 
Syrtis. 

The  Fescetmine  Songs  were  the  origin  of  the  Satire,  the  only  im- 
portant species  of  literature  not  derived  from  the  Greeks,  and  alto- 
gether peculiar  to  Italy.  These  Fescennine  Songs  were  rude  dia- 
logues, in  which  the  country  people  assailed  and  ridiculed  one 
another  in  extempore  verses,  and  which  were  introduced  as  an 
amusement  in  various  festivals.  They  were  formed  into  the  Sat- 
ire* by  C.  LUCILIUS,  who  wrote  in  hexameter  verse,  and  attacked 
the  follies  and  vices  both  of  distinguished  persons  and  of  man- 
kind in  general.  He  was  born  B.C.  148,  at  Suessa  Aurunca,  and 
died  at  Naples  in  B.C.  103.  He  lived  upon  terms  of  intimacy  with 
the  younger  Scipio  and  Lajlius,  and  was  the  maternal  ancestor  of 
Pompey  the  Great.  Lucilius  continued  to  be  admired  in  the  Au- 
gustan age  ;  and  Horace,  while  he  censures  the  harsh  versification 
and  the  slovenly  haste  with  which  Lucilius  threw  oft*  his  composi- 
tions, acknowledges  with  admiration  the  fierceness  and  boldness  of 
his  attacks  upon  the  vices  and  follies  of  his  contemporaries. 

Between  Lucilius  and  the  poets  of  the  Augustan  age  lived  Lu- 
cretius and  Catullus,  two  of  the  greatest — perhaps  the  greatest — of 
all  the  Roman  poets. 

T.LUCRETIUS  CARUS  was  born  B.C.  95,  and  died  about  B.C.  51. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  driven  mad  by  a  love-potion,  and  to  have 
perished  by  his  own  hand.  The  work  which  has  immortalized  his 
name  is  a  philosophical  didactic  poem,  in  heroic  hexameters,  enti- 
tled Da  Rerum  Natura,  divided  into  six  books,  and  addressed  to  C. 
Memmius  Gemellus,  who  was  praetor  in  B.C.  58.  Its  object  is  to 
state  clearly  the  leading  principles  of  the  Epicurean  philosophy  in 
such  a  form  as  might  render  the  study  attractive  to  his  countrymen. 
He  attempts  to  show  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  history  or  actual 
condition  of  the  world  which  does  not  admit  of  explanation  with- 
out having  recourse  to  the  active  interposition  of  divine  beings. 
The  work  has  been  admitted  by  all  modern  critics  to  be  the  great- 
est of  didactic  poems.  The  most  abstruse  speculations  arc  clearly 
explained  in  majestic  verse,  while  the  subject,  which  in  itself  is 
dry  and  dull,  is  enlivened  by  digressions  of  matchless  power  and 
beauty. 

VALERIUS  CATULLUS  was  born  at  Verona  or  in  its  immediate 
vicinity,  B.C.  87.  He  inherited  considerable  property  from  his  fa- 
ther, who  was  the  friend  of  Julius  Cassar ;  but  lie  squandered  a 
great  part  of  it  by  indulging  freely  in  the  pleasures  of  the  metropo- 
lis. In  order  to  better  his  fortunes,  he  went  to  Bithynia  in  the 

*  The  name  signifies  a  mixture  or  medley,  lleuce  a  lex  per  oaturam  lata  id  a 
law  which  contained  several  distinct  regulations  at  once. 


B.C.  87-19.  ROMAN  LITERATURE.  277 

train  of  the  Praetor  Memmius,  but  it  appears  that  the  speculation 
was  attended  with  little  success.  It  was  probably  during  this  ex- 
pedition that  his  brother  died  in  the  Troad,  a  loss  which  he  de- 
plores in  the  affecting  elegy  to  Hortalus.  On  his  return  he  con- 
tinued to  reside  at  Rome,  or  at  his  country  seats  on  the  promonto- 
ry of  Sirmio  and  at  Tibur.  He  died  about  B.C.  47.  His  poems 
arc  on  a  variety  of  topics,  and  composed  in  different  styles  and  me- 
tres. Some  are  lyrical,  others  elegies,  others  epigrams ;  while  the 
Nuptials  of  Peleus  and  Thetis  is  an  heroic  poem.  Catullus  adorned 
all  he  touched,  and  his  shorter  poems  are  characterized  by  original 
invention  and  felicity  of  expression.  His  Alys  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  poems  in  the  whole  range  of  Latin  literature,  distin- 
guished by  wild  passion  and  the  noblest  diction. 

Among  the  poets  of  the  Augustan  age  Virgil  and  Horace  stand 
forth  pre-eminent. 

P.ViRGiLius  (more  properly  VERGILIUS)  MAKO  was  born  B.C.  70, 
at  Andes,  a  small  village  near  Mantua,  in  Cisalpine  Gaul.  His 
father  left  him  a  small  estate,  which  he  cultivated.  After  the  bat- 
tle of  Philippi  (B.C.  42)  his  property  was  among  the  lands  assigned 
by  Octavian  to  the  soldiers.  Through  the  advice  of  Asinius  Pol- 
lio,  who  was  then  governor  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  was  himself  a 
poet,  Virgil  applied  to  Octavian  at  Rome  for  the  restitution  of  his 
land,  and  obtained  his  request.  The  first  Eclogue  commemorates 
his  gratitude.  Virgil  lived  on  intimate  terms  with  Maecenas,  whom 
he  accompanied  in  the  journey  from  Rome  to  Brundusium,  which 
forms  the  subject  of  one  of  the  Satires  of  Horace.  His  most  fin- 
ished work,  the  Georgics,  was  undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  Mae- 
cenas.* The  poem  was  completed  after  the  battle  of  Actium,  B.C. 
31,  while  Octavian  was  in  the  East.f  The  sEneidvf&s  the  occupa- 
tion of  his  latter  years.  His  health  was  always  feeble,  and  he  died 
at  Brundnsium  in  B.C.  19,  in  his  51st  year.  His  remains  were 
transferred  to  Naples,  which  had  been  his  favorite  residence,  and 
placed  on  the  road  from  Naples  to  Puteoli  (Pozzuoli),  where  a  mon- 
ument is  still  shown,  supposed  to  be  the  tomb  of  the  poet.  It  is  said 
that  in  his  last  illness  he  wished  to  burn  the  JEneid,  to  which  he 
had  not  given  the  finishing  touches,  but  his  friends  would  not  allow 
him.  He  was  an  amiable,  good-tempered  man,  free  from  the  mean 
passions  of  envy  and  jealousy.  His  fame,  which  was  established 
in  his  lifetime,  was  cherished  after  his  death  as  an  inheritance  in 
which  every  Roman  had  a  share ;  and  his  works  became  school- 
books  even  before  the  death  of  Augustus,  and  continued  such  for 
centuries  after.  He  was  also  the  great  poet  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
To  him  Dante  paid  the  homage  of  his  superior  genius,  and  owned 
•  Georg.,  iii.,  41.  t  Comp.  Georg.,  iv.,  500,  and  ii.,  171. 


278  HISTORY  OF  HOME.       CiiAr.XXXVIIL 

him  for  his  master  and  model.  The  ten  short  poems  called  7J?o 
colics,  or  Eclogues,  were  the  earliest  works  of  Virgil,  and  probably 
all  written  between  B.C.  41  and  n.c.  37.  They  have  all  a  Bucolic 
form  and  coloring,  but  some  of  them  have  nothing  more.  Their 
merit  consists  in  their  versification,  and  in  many  natural  and  sim- 
ple touches.  The  Georyics  is  an  "Agricultural  Poem"  in  four 
books.  Virgil  treats  of  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  in  the  first  book, 
of  fruit-trees  in  the  second,  of  horses  and  other  cattle  in  the  third, 
and  of  bees  in  the  fourth.  This  poem  shows  a  great  improvement 
both  in  his  taste  and  in  his  versification.  Neither  in  the  Geor^ics 
nor  elsewhere  has  he  the  merit  of  striking  originality ;  his  chief 
excellence  consists  in  the  skillful  handling  of  borrowed  materials. 
The  sRneid,  or  adventures  of  .flSneas  after  the  fall  of  Troy,  is  an 
epic  formed  on  the  model  of  the  Homeric  poems.  It  was  founded 
upon  an  old  Roman  tradition  that  JEneas  and  his  Trojans  settled 
in  Italy,  and  were  the  founders  of  the  Roman  name.  In  the  first 
six  books  the  adventures  of  Ulysses  in  the  Odyssey  are  the  model, 
and  these  books  contain  more  variety  of  incident  and  situation  than 
those  which  follow.  The  last  six  books,  the  history  of  the  struggles 
of  JEncas  in  Italy,  are  based  on  the  plan  of  the  battles  of  the  Iliad. 
Latinus,  the  king  of  the  Latini,  offers  in  marriage  to  the  Trojan 
hero  his  daughter  Lavinia,  who  had  been  betrothed  to  Turnns,  the 
warlike  king  of  the  Rutuli.  The  contest  is  ended  by  the  death  of 
Turnus,  who  falls  by  the  hand  of  ^Eneas.  The  fortunes  of  .(Eneas 
and  his  final  settlement  in  Italy  are  the  subjects  of  the  JEneid, 
but  the  glories  of  Rome  and  the  Julian  house,  to  which  Augustus 
belonged,  are  indirectly  the  poet's  theme.  In  the  first  book  the 
foundation  of  Alba  Longa  is  promised  by  Jupiter  to  Venus,  and  the 
transfer  of  empire  from  Alba  to  Rome ;  from  the  line  of  JEneas 
will  descend  the  "Trojan  Cassar,"  whose  empire  will  only  be  lim- 
ited by  the  ocean,  and  his  glory  by  the  heavens.  The  ultimate  tri- 
umphs of  Rome  are  predicted. 

Q.  HORATIUS  FLACCUS,  usually  called  HORACE,  was  born  at  Ve» 
nnsia,  in  Apulia,  B.C.  65.  His  father  was  a  freedman.  He  had 
received  his  manumission  before  the  birth  of  the  poet,  who  was  of 
ingenuous  birth,  but  who  did  not  altogether  escape  the  taunt  which 
adhered  to  persons  even  of  remote  servile  origin.  His  father's  oc- 
cupation was  that  of  a  collector  (coactor*)  of  taxes.  With  the  prof- 
its of  his  office  he  had  purchased  a  small  farm  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Venusia.  Though  by  no  means  rich,  he  declined  to  send  the 
young  Horace  to  the  common  school,  kept  in  Venusia  by  one  Fla- 
vius,  to  which  the  children  of  the  rural  aristocracy  resorted.  Prob- 
ably about  his  twelfth  year  his  father  carried  him  to  Rome  to  re- 
ceive the  usual  education  *>f  a  knight's  or  senator's  son.  He  fre^ 


B.C.3!)-:J7.  ROMAN  LITERATURE.  279 

quented  the  best  schools  in  the  capital.  One  of  these  was  kept  by 
Orbilius,  a  retired  military  man,  whose  flogging  propensities  have 
been  immortalised  by  his  pupil.  The  names  of  his  other  teachers 
are  not  recorded  by  the  poet.  He  was  instructed  in  the  Greek 
and  Latin  languages:  the  poets  were  the  usual  school-books — Ho- 
mer in  the  Greek,  and  the  old  tragic  writer,  Livius  Andronicns,  in 
the  Latin.  In  his  eighteenth  year  Horace  proceeded  to  Athens, 
in  order  to  continue  his  studies  at  that  seat  of  learning.  When 
Brutus  came  to  Athens  after  the  death  of  Caesar,  Horace  joined 
his  army,  and  received  at  once  tho  rank  of  a  military  tribune  and 
the  command  of  a  legion.  He  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Philip- 
pi,  and  shared  in  the  flight  of  the  republican  arm}".  In  one  of  his 
poems  he  playfully  alludes  to  his  flight,  and  throwing  away  his 
shield.  He  now  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  more  peaceful  pur- 
suits ;  and,  having  obtained  his  pardon,  he  ventured  at  once  to  re- 
turn to  Rome.  He  had  lost  all  his  hopes  in  life ;  his  paternal  es- 
tate had  been  swept  away  in  the  general  forfeiture ;  but  he  was 
enabled  to  obtain  sufficient  money  to  purchase  a  clerkship  in  the 
Quaestor's  office,  and  on  the  profits  of  that  place  he  managed,  with 
the  utmost  frugality,  to  live.  Meantime  some  of  his  poems  at- 
tracted the  notice  of  Varius  and  Virgil,  who  introduced  him  to 
Maecenas  (B.C.  39).  Horace  soon  became  the  friend  of  Maecenas, 
and  this  friendship  quickly  ripened  into  intimacy.  In  a  year  or  two 
after  the  commencement  of  their  friendship  (B.C.  37)  Horace  ac- 
companied his  patron  on  the  journey  to  Brundusium  already  al- 
luded to.  About  the  year  B.C.  34  Maecenas  bestowed  upon  the  poet 
a  Sabine  farm,  sufficient  to  maintain  him  in  ease,  comfort,  and 
even  in  content,  during  the  rest  of  his  life.  The  situation  of  this 
farm  was  in  the  valley  of  Ustica,  within  view  of  the  mountain  Lu- 
cretilis,  and  near  the  Digentia,  about  15  miles  from  Tibur  (  TivoK). 
A  site  exactly  answering  to  the  villa  of  Horace,  and  on  which  were 
found  ruins  of  buildings,  has  been  discovered  in  modern  times. 
Besides  this  estate,  his  admiration  of  the  beautiful  scenery  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Tibur  inclined  him  either  to  hire  or  to  ^purchase  a 
small  cottage  in  that  romantic  town  ;  and  all  the  later  years  of  his 
life  were  passed  between  the  metropolis  and  these  two  country  res- 
idences. He  died,  B.C.  8,  in  his  57th  year.  He  was  buried  on 
the  slope  of  the  Esquiline  Hill,  close  to  his  friend  and  patron  Mae- 
cenas, who  had  died  before  him  in  the  same  year.  Horace  has 
described  his  own  person.  He  was  of  short  stature,  with  dark  eyes 
and  dark  hair,  but  early  tinged  with  gray.  In  his  youth  he  was 
tolerably  robust,  but  suffered  from  a  complaint  in  his  eyes.  In 
more  advanced  life  he  grew  fat,  and  Augustus  jested  about  his  pro- 
tuberant belly.  His  health  was  not  always  good,  and  he  seems  to 


280  HISTORY  OF  ROME.      CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

have  inclined  to  be  a  valetudinarian.  In  dress  he  was  rather  care- 
less. His  habits,  even  after  he  became  richer,  were  generally  fru- 
gal and  abstemious ;  though  on  occasions,  both  in  youth  and  ma- 
turer  age,  he  seems  to  have  indulged  in  conviviality.  He  liked 
choice  wine,  and  in  the  society  of  friends  scrupled  not  to  enjoy  tho 
luxuries  of  his  time.  He  was  never  married.  The  Odes  of  Hor- 
ace want  the  higher  inspirations  of  lyric  verse.  His  amatory  verses 
are  exquisitely  graceful,  but  they  have  no  strong  ardor,  no  deep  ten- 
derness, nor  even  much  light  and  joyous  gayety ;  but  as  works  of 
refined  art,  of  the  most  skillful  felicities  of  language  and  of  meas- 
ure, of  translucent  expression,  and  of  agreeable  images  embodied 
in  words  which  imprint  themselves  indelibly  on  the  memory,  they 
arc  unrivaled.  In  the  Satires  of  Horace  there  is  none  of  the  lofty 
moral  indignation,  the  fierce  vehemence  of  invective,  which  char- 
acterized the  later  satirists.  It  is  the  folly  rather  than  the  wicked- 
ness of  vice  which  he  touches  with  such  playful  skill.  In  the 
Epodes  there  is  bitterness  provoked,  it  should  seem,  by  some  per- 
sonal hatred  or  sense  of  injury ;  but  the  Epistles  are  the  most  per- 
fect of  the  Horatian  poetry,  the  poetry  of  manners  and  society,  the 
beauty  of  which  consists  in  its  common  sense  and  practical  wisdom . 
The  Epistles  of  Horace  are,  with  the  Poem  of  Lucretius,  the  Geor- 
gics  of  Virgil,  and,  perhaps,  the  Satires  of  Juvenal,  the  most  per- 
fect and  the  most  original  form  of  Roman  verse.  The  Art  of  Poetry 
was  probably  intended  to  dissuade  one  of  the  younger  Pisos  from 
devoting  himself  to  poetry,  for  which  he  had  little  genius,  or,  at 
least,  to  suggest  the  difficulties  of  attaining  to  perfection. 

Three  celebrated  Elegiac  poets — Tibullus,  Propertius,  and  Ovid 
— also  belong  to  the  Augustan  age. 

ALBIUS  TIBULLUS  was  of  equestrian  family,  and  possessed  an 
hereditary  estate  between  Tibur  and  Praneste.  His  great  patron 
was  Messala,  whom  he  accompanied  in  B.C.  31  into  Aquitania, 
whither  Messala  had  been  sent  by  Augustus  to  suppress  a  formida- 
able  insurrection  which  had  broken  out  in  this  province.  In  the 
following  year  (B.C.  30)  Messala,  having  pacified  Gaul,  was  sent  into 
the  East.  Tibullus  set  out  in  his  company,  but  was  taken  ill,  and 
obliged  to  remain  in  Corcyra,  from  whence  lie  returned  to  Rome. 
So  ceased  the  active  life  of  Tibullus.  He  died  at  an  early  age  soon 
after  Virgil.  The  poetry  of  his  contemporaries  shows  Tibullus  as 
a  gentle  and  singularly  amiable  man.  To  Horace  especially  he 
was  an  object  of  warm  attachment.  His  Elegies,  which  are  exqui- 
site small  poems,  celebrate  the  beauty  and  cruelty  of  his  mistresses. 

SEXTUS  AURELIUS  PROPERTIUS  was  a  native  of  Umbria,  and  was 
born  about  B.C.  51.  He  was  deprived  of  his  paternal  estate  by  an 
agrarian  division,  probably  that  in  B.C  33,  after  the  Sicilian  War- 


B.C.30-A.D.  18.     ROMAN  LITERATURE.  281 

He  began  to  write  poetry  at  a  very  early  age,  and  the  merit  of  his 
productions  soon  attracted  the  attention  and  patronage  of  Micee- 
nas.  The  year  of  his  death  is  altogether  unknown.  As  an  elegiac 
poet  a  high  rank  must  be  awarded  to  Propertius,  and  among  the 
ancients  it  was  a  disputed  point  whether  the  preference  should  he 
given  to  him  or  to  Tibullus.  To  the  modern  reader,  however,  the 
elegies  of  Propertius  are  not  nearly  so  attractive  as  those  of  Tibul- 
lus. This  arises  partly  from  their  obscurity,  but  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, also,  from  a  certain  want  of  nature  in  them.  The  fault  of 
Propertius  was  too  pedantic  an  imitation  of  the  Greeks.  His  whole 
ambition  was  to  become  the  Roman  Callimachus,  whom  he  made 
his  model.  He  abounds  with  obscure  Greek  myths,  as  well  as 
Greek  forms  of  expression,  and  the  same  pedantry  infects  even  his 
versification. 

P.  OVIDIUS  NASO,  usually  called  OVID,  was  born  at  Sulmo,  in  the 
country  of  the  Peligni,  on  the  20th  of  March,  u.c.  43.  He  was 
descended  from  an  ancient  equestrian  family,  and  was  destined  to 
be  a  pleader ;  but  the  bent  of  his  genius  showed  itself  very  early. 
The  hours  which  should  have  been  spent  in  the  study  of  jurispru- 
dence were  employed  in  cultivating  his  poetical  talent.  It  is  a 
disputed  point  whether  he  ever  actually  practiced  as  an  advocate 
after  his  return  to  Rome.  The  picture  Ovid  himself  draws  of  his 
weak  constitution  and  indolent  temper  prevents  us  from  thinking 
that  he  ever  followed  his  profession  with  perseverance,  if,  indeed, 
at  all.  He  became,  however,  one  of  the  Triumviri  Capitales ;  and 
he  was  subsequently  made  one  of  the  Centumviri,  or  judges  who 
tried  testamentary,  and  even  criminal  causes.  Till  his  50th  year 
he  continued  to  reside  at  Rome,  where  he  had  a  house  near  the 
Capitol,  occasionally  taking  a  trip  to  his  Pelignian  farm.  He  not 
only  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  a  large  circle  of  distinguished  men, 
but  the  regard  and  favor  of  Augustus  and  the  imperial  family ;  not- 
withstanding, in  A.D.  9,  he  was  suddenly  commanded  by  an  imperial 
edict  to  transport  himself  to  Tomi,  a  town  on  the  Euxine,  near  the 
mouths  of  the  Danube,  on  the  very  border  of  the  empire.  He  un- 
derwent no  trial,  and  the  sole  reason  for  his  banishment  stated  in 
the  edict  was  his  having  published  his  poem  on  the  Art  of  Love 
(Ars  Amatoria).  The  real  cause  of  his  banishment  is  unknown, 
for  the  publication  of  the  Art  of  Love  was  certainly  a  mere  pretext. 
Ovid  draws  an  affecting  picture  of  the  miseries  to  which  he  was  ex- 
posed in  his  place  of  exile.  He  complains  of  the  inhospitable  soil, 
of  the  severity  of  the  climate,  and  of  the  perils  to  which  he  was  ex- 
posed, when  the  barbarians  plundered  the  surrounding  country,  and 
insulted  the  very  walls  of  Tomi.  In  the  midst  of  all  his  misfor- 
tunes he  sought  some  relief  in  the  exercise  of  his  poetical  talents. 


282  HISTORY  OF  BOME.       CIIAI-.  XXXVIII. 

He  died  at  Tomi  in  the  GOth  year  of  his  age,  A.D.  18.  Besides  his 
amatory  poems,  Ovid  wrote  the  Metamorphoses  in  15  books,  which 
consist  of  such  legends  or  fables  as  involved  a  transformation,  from 
the  Creation  to  the  time  of  Julius  Cassar,  the  last  being  that  em- 
peror's change  into  a  star;  the  Fasti  in  12  books,  of  which  only 
the  first  six  are  extant,  a  sort  of  poetical  Roman  calendar,  with  its 
appropriate  festivals  and  mythology  ;  and  the  Elegies,  written  dur- 
ing his  banishment.  Ovid  undoubtedly  possessed  a  great  poetical 
genius,  which  makes  it  the  more  to  be  regretted  that  it  was  not  al- 
ways under  the  control  of  a  sound  judgment.  He  exhibits  great 
vigor  of  fancy  and  warmth  of  coloring,  but  he  was  the  first  to  de- 
part from  that  pure  and  correct  taste  which  characterizes  the  Greek 
poets  and  their  earlier  Latin  imitators. 

We  now  turn  to  the  history  of  prose  literature  among  the  Ro- 
mans. The  earliest  prose  works  were  Annals,  containing  a  meagre 
account  of  the  principal  events  in  Roman  history,  arranged  under 
their  respective  years.  The  earliest  Annalists  who  obtained  repu- 
tation were  Q.  FABIUS  PICTOK  and  L.  CINCIUS  ALIMENTUS,  both  of 
whom  served  in  the  Second  Punic  War,  and  drew  up  an  account 
of  it,  but  they  wrote  in  the  Greek  language.  The  first  prose  writer 
in  the  Latin  language,  of  whom  any  considerable  fragments  have 
been  preserved,  is  the  celebrated  Censor,  M.  PORCIUS  CATO,  who 
died  B.C.  149,  and  of  whose  life  an  account  has  been  already  given. 
He  wrote  an  important  historical  work  entitled  Origines.  The  first 
book  contained  the  history  of  the  Roman  kings ;  the  second  and 
third  treated  of  the  origin  of  the  Italian  towns,  and  from  these  two 
books  the  whole  work  derived  its  title ;  the  fourth  book  treated  of 
the  First  Punic  War,  the  fifth  book  of  the  Second  Punic  War,  and 
the  sixth  and  seventh  continued  the  narrative  to  the  year  of  Cato's 
death.  There  is  still  extant  a  work  on  agriculture  (Z)e  Re  Rus- 
tica)  bearing  the  name  of  Cato,  which  is  probably  substantially  his, 
though  it  is  certainly  not  exactly  in  the  form  in  which  it  proceeded 
from  his  pen.  There  were  many  other  annalists,  of  whom  we 
know  little  more  than  the  names,  and  whose  works  were  used  by 
Livy  in  compiling  his  Roman  history. 

Oratory  was  always  cultivated  by  the  Romans  as  one  of  the  chief 
avenues  to  political  distinction.  Cicero,  in  his  work  entitled  Bru- 
lus,  has  given  a  long  list  of  distinguished  Orators  whose  speeches 
he  had  read,  but  he  himself  surpassed  all  his  predecessors  and 
contemporaries.  In  his  works  the  Latin  language  appears  in  the 
highest  perfection.  Besides  his  numerous  orations  he  also  wrote 
several  treatises  on  Rhetoric,  of  which  the  most  perfect  is  a  system- 
atic treatise  on  the  art  of  Oratory  (Z>e  Oratore),  in  three  books. 


B.C.  KiO-30.          ROMAN  LITERATURE.  283 

His  works  on  Philosophy  were  almost  the  first  specimens  of  this 
kind  of  literature  ever  presented  to  the  Romans  in  their  own  lan- 
guage, lie  does  not  aim  at  any  original  investigation  or  research. 
His  oliject  was  to  present,  in  a  familiar  and  attractive  form,  the  re- 
sults at  which  the  Greek  philosophers  had  arrived,  not  to  expound 
any  new  theories.  His  Ei>istles,  of  which  more  than  eight  hundred 
have  come  clown  to  us,  are  among  the  most  valuable  remains  of 
antiquity.  Cicero,  during  the  most  important  period  of  his  life, 
maintained  a  close  correspondence  with  Atticus,  and  with  a  wide 
circle  of  political  friends  and  connections.  These  letters  supply 
the  most  ample  materials  for  a  history  of  the  Roman  Republic  dur- 
ing its  last  struggles,  and  afford  a  clear  insight  into  the  personal 
dispositions  and  motives  of  its  chief  leaders. 

The  most  learned  Roman  under  the  Republic  was  M.  TKRKNTIUS 
VARHO,  a  contemporary  and  friend  of  Cicero.  He  served  as  Ponv 
pey's  lieutenant  in  Spain  in  the  Civil  Wars,  but  was  pardoned  by 
Ca:sar  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  and  was  employed  by  him  in 
superintending  the  collection  and  arrangement  of  the  great  library 
designed  for  public  use.  Upon  the  formation  of  the  second  Tri- 
umvirate, Varro's  name  appeared  upon  the  list  of  the  proscribed; 
but  he  succeeded  in  making  his  escape,  and,  after  having  remained 
for  some  time  in  concealment,  he  obtained  the  protection  of  Octa- 
vian.  His  death  took  place  B.C.  28,  when  he  was  in  his  89th  year. 
Not  only  was  Varro  the  most  learned  of  Roman  scholars,  but  he 
was  likewise  the  most  voluminous  of  Roman  authors.  We  have  his 
own  authority  for  the  assertion  that  he  had  composed  no  less  than 
490  books,  but  of  these  only  two  have  come  down  to  us,  and  one 
of  them  in  a  mutilated  form  :  1.  De  Re  Rustica,  a  work  on  Agricul- 
ture, in  three  books,  written  when  the'author  was  80  years  old ;  2. 
De  Lingua  Latina,  a  grammatical  treatise  which  extended  to  24 
books,  but  six  only  have  been  preserved,  and  these  are  in  a  mutila- 
ted condition.  The  remains  of  this  treatise  are  particularly  valua- 
ble. They  have  preserved  many  terms  and  forms  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  altogether  lost,  and  much  curious  information 
connected  with  the  ancient  usages,  both  civil  and  religious,  of  the 
'Romans. 

C.  JULIUS  CAESAR,  the  great  Dictator,  was  also  distinguished  as 
an  author,  and  wrote  several  works,  of  which  the  Commentaries 
alone  have  come  down  to  us.  They  relate  the  history  of  the  first 
seven  years  of  the  Gallic  War  in  seven  books,  and  the  history  of 
the  Civil  War  down  to  the  commencement  of  the  Alexandrine  in 
three  books.  Neither  of  these  works  completes  the  history  of  the 
Gallic  and  Civil  Wars.  The  history  of  the  former  was  completed 
in  an  8th  book,  which  is  usually  ascribed  to  Hirtius.  The  history 


284  HISTORY  OF  ROME.       Ciixp.XXXVIIl. 

of  the  Alexandrine,  African,  and  Spanish  Wars  was  written  in  three 
separate  books,  which  are  also  ascribed  to  Hirtius,  but  their  author- 
ship is  uncertain.  The  purity  of  Caisar's  Latin  and  the  clearness 
of  his  style  have  deservedly  obtained  the  highest  praise. 

C.  SALLUSTIUS  CRISPUS,  a  contemporary  of  Casar,  and  one  of  his 
supporters,  was  also  distinguished  as  a  historian.  He  was  born 
B.C.  86  at  Amiternum,  in  the  country  of  the  Sabines,  and  died  in 
B.C.  34.  After  the  African  War  (B.C.  46)  he  was  left  by  Caesar  as 
governor  of  Numidia,  where  he  acquired  great  riches  by  his  oppres- 
sion of  the  people.  Two  of  his  works  have  come  down  to  us,  the 
Catilina,  the  history  of  the  suppression  of  Catiline's  conspiracy,  and 
the  Jugurtha,  the  history  of  the  war  against  Jugurtha.  Sallust  made 
ThucydiJes  his  model,  and  took  great  pains  with  his  style. 

CORNELIUS  NEPOS,  the  contemporary  and  friend  of  Cicero  and 
Atticus,  was  the  author  of  numerous  works,  all  of  which  are  lost, 
with  the  exception  of  the  well-known  Lives  of  Distinguished  Com- 
manders (  Vitce  Excellentiuin  fin/>eratoru»i).  But  even  these  Lives, 
with  the  exception  of  that  of  Atticus,  are  probably  an  abridgment 
of  the  original  work  of  Nepos,  made  in  the  fourth  century  of  the 
Christian  era. 

Of  the  prose  writers  of  the  Augustan  age  the  most  distinguished 
was  the  historian  TITOS  LIVIUS,  usually  called  LIVY.  He  was  born 
at  Patavium  (Padua),  B.C.  59.  The  greater  part  of  his  life  ap- 
pears to  have  been  spent  in  Rome,  but  he  returned  to  his  native 
town  before  his  death,  which  happened  at  the  age  of  76,  in  the 
fourth  year  of  Tiberius,  A.P.  17.  His  literary  talents  secured  the 
patronage  and  friendship  of  Augustus;  and  his  reputation  became 
so  widely  diffused,  that  a  Spaniard  traveled  from  Cadiz  to  Rome 
solely  for  the  purpose  of  beholding  him  ;  and,  having  gratified  his 
curiosity  in  this  one  particular,  he  immediately  returned  home. 
Livy's  "  History  of  Rome"  extended  from  the  foundation  of  the 
city  to  the  death  of  Drusus,  B.C.  9,  and  was  comprised  in  142  books. 
Of  these  35  have  descended  to  us.  The  whole  work  has  been  di- 
vided into  decades,  containing  10  books  each.  The  First  decade 
(bks.  i.-x.)  is  entire.  It  embraces  the  period  from  the  foundation 
of  the  city  to  the  year  B.C.  294,  when  the  subjugation  of  the  Sam- 
nites  may  be  said  to  have  been  completed.  The  Second  decade 
(bks.  xi.-xx.)  is  altogether  lost.  It  included  the  period  from  B.C. 
294  to  B.C.  219,  comprising  an  account,  among  other  matters,  of 
the  invasion  of  Pyrrhus  and  of  the  First  Punic  War.  The  Third 
decade  (bks.  xxi.-xxx.)  is  entire.  It  embraces  the  period  from 
B.C.  219  to  B.C.  201,  comprehending  the  whole  of  the  Second  Punic 
War.  Tho  Fourth  decade  (bks.  xxxi.-xl.)  is  entire,  and  also  one 
half  of  the  Fifth  (bks.  xli.-xlv.).  These  15  books  continue  the 


B.C.28-A.D.  17.    ROMAN  LITERATURE.  285 

history  from  B.C.  201  to  B.C.  167,  and  develop  tho  progress  of  the 
Roman  arms  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  in  Macedonia,  Greece,  and  Asia, 
fending  with  the  triumph  of  JEmilius  Paullus.  Of  the  remaining 
books  nothing  is  extant  except  inconsiderable  fragments.  The  style 
of  Livy  may  he  pronounced  almost  faultless.  In  judging  of  his 
merits  as  a  historian,  we  are  bound  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  the  end 
h'hieh  he  proposed  to  himself.  No  one  who  reads  his  work  with 
attention  can  suppose  that  he  ever  conceived  the  project  of  drawing 
up  a  critical  history  of  Rome.  His  aim  was  to  offer  to  his  coun- 
trymen a  clear  and  pleasing  narrative,  which,  while  it  gratified  their 
Vanity,  should  contain  no  startling  improbabilities  or  gross  amplifi- 
cations. To  effect  this  purpose,  he  studied  with  care  the  writings 
of  some  of  his  more  celebrate'd  predecessors  in  the  same  field ;  but 
in  no  case  did  he  ever  dream  of  ascending  to  the  fountain-head, 
and  never  attempted  to  test  the  accuracy  of  his  authorities  by  ex- 
amining monuments  of  remote  antiquity. 


JliBcenaa. 


Aureus  of  Augustus  Caesar. 
CHAPTEE  XXXIX. 

THE    REIGN    OF    AUGUSTUS   (XESAR.       B.C.  31-A.D.  14. 

AUGUSTUS,  being  now  the  emperor  of  Rome,  sought  to  win  tlie 
affections  of  his  people.  He  lived  with  republican  simplicity  in  a 
plain  house  on  the  Palatine  Hill,  and  educated  his  family  with 
great  strictness  and  frugality.  His  public  conduct  was  designed 
to  conceal  his  unbounded  power.  He  rejected  all  unworthy  mem- 
bers from  the  Senate,  and  limited  the  number  of  the  Senators  to  six 
hundred.  The  Comitia  of  the  Centuries  was  still  allowed  to  pass 
laws  and  elect  magistrates,  but  gradually  these  powers  were  taken 
away,  until,  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  they  are  mentioned  no  more. 

The  emperor's  chief  counselors  in  public  affairs  were  his  four 
friends,  M.  Vipsanius  Agrippa,  C.  Cilnins  Maecenas,  M.  Valerius 
Messala,  and  Asinius  Pollio,  all  persons  of  excellent  talents,  and 
devoted  to  their  master.  Agrippa  aided  him  greatly  in  embellish- 
ing the  city  of  Rome  with  new  buildings,  and  the  Pantheon,  which 
was  built  in  the  Campus  Martins,  still  bears  the  inscription,  M.  Vij>- 
sanius  Agrippa,  consul  tertiuut.  Augustus  was  accustomed  to  say 
that  lie  found  Rome  a  city  of  brick,  and  left  it  a  city  of  marble. 

To  secure  the  peace  of  the  capital,  and  to  extirpate  the  robbers 
who  filled  its  streets,  Augustus  divided  Rome  into  fourteen  regions, 
and  each  region  into  several  smaller  divisions  called  Vid:  a  mag- 
istrate was  placed  over  each  Vicus,  and  all  these  officers  were  un- 
der the  command  of  the  city  prafect.  A  police  force,  Viyiles,  seven 
hundred  in  number,  was  also  provided,  who  succeeded  in  restoring 
the  public  peace.  Italy,  in  a  similar  manner,  was  divided  into  re- 
gions, and  local  magistrates  were  appointed,  who  made  life  and 
property  every  where  secure. 

We  must  notice  briefly  the  extent  and  condition  of  that  vast 
empire  over  which  Augustus  ruled — too  vast,  in  fact,  to  be  sub- 
jected to  the  control  of  a  single  intellect.  Italy,  the  peculiar  prov- 
ince of  the  emperor,  had  lost  a  large  part  of  its  free  population. 


B.C.  31-A.D.  14.     REIGN  OF  AUGUSTUS  (LESAll.         287 

whose  place  was  supplied  by  slaves  ;  military  colonies  were  numer- 
ous, a  kind  of  settlement  which  never  tended  to  advance  the  pros- 
perity of  the  country;  the  cities  were  declining,  and  many  <  f  them 
almost  abandoned.  The  north  of  Italy,  however,  still  retained  a 
portion  of  its  former  prosperity ;  its  great  droves  of  swine  supplied 
the  people  of  Rome  with  a  large  part  of  their  food ;  vineyards  also 
abounded  there,  and  the  wine-vats  of  upper  Italy  were  said  to  be 
often  larger  than  houses.  Coarse  woolen  cloths  were  manufactured 
in  Liguria,  and  a  finer  wool  was  produced  near  Mutina.  But  Italy, 
once  so  fertile,  could  no  longer  produce  its  own  com,  for  which  it 
depended  chiefly  upon  Sicily,  Africa,  and  Egypt. 

The  island  of  Sicily,  too,  had  suffered  greatly  during  the  civil 
wars.  Its  cities  were  fallen  into  ruin,  and  the  woods  and  mount- 
ains were  filled  with  fugitive  slaves,  who,  when  captured,  were 
taken  to  Rome  and  exposed  to  wild  beasts  in  the  amphitheatres. 
A  Roman  colony  was  planted  by  Augustus  in  the  almost  deserted 
city  of  Syracuse. 

The  condition  of  the  extensive  province  of  Gaul  was  more  prom- 
ising, its  savage  tribes  having  begun  to  adopt  the  arts  of  civiliza- 
tion. The  Gauls  purchased  from  southern  traders  such  articles  as 
they  were  unable  to  produce  at  home,  and  supplied  Italy,  in  re- 
turn, with  coarse  wool  and  cargoes  of  bacon.  Several  Roman  col- 
onies established  in  Gaul  enjoyed  various  political  privileges,  but 
the  people  in  general  were  oppressed  with  taxes  and  burdened  with 
debts.  The  religion  of  the  Druids  was  discouraged  by  laws  which 
forbade  human  sacrifices,  and,  indeed,  all  rites  opposed  to  the  Ro- 
man faith.  In  Southern  Gaul  the  city  of  Massilia  (Marseilles) 
bad  imparted  civilization  to  the  neighboring  tribes:  they  learned 
to  use  the  Greek  characters  in  writing,  while  many  of  the  Gallic 
cities  invited  Greek  teachers  to  open  schools  in  their  midst. 

Spain,  rich  in  gold  and  "silver,  in  fine  wool,  and  a  prolific  soil, 
traded  largely  with  Rome.  The  valley  of  the  Ba3tis,  or  Guadal- 
quiver,  was  renowned  for  its  uncommon  fertility.  Many  of  the 
Spaniards  had  already  adopted  the  language  and  manners  of  their 
conquerors.  Spain  was  divided  into  three  provinces,  Brctica,  Lu- 
sitania,  and  Hispania  Tarraconensis.  Gades,  or  Cadiz,  was  one 
of  the  richest  cities  of  the  empire,  and,  according  to  Dion  Cassius, 
had  received  the  privilege  of  Roman  citizenship  from  Julius  Caesar, 
whom  its  people  had  aided  against  Pompey's  officers.  The  tribes 
in  the  northwest  of  Spain,  however,  were  savage  and  unquiet,  and 
their  language,  the  Basque,  which  still  exists,  shows  that  they  were 
never  perfectly  conquered  by  the  Romans. 

The  northern  coast  of  Africa,  opposite  to  Spain,  was  held  by 
Juba,  a  native  prince,  while  the  Roman  province  of  Africa  em- 


288  HISTORY  OF  HOME.          CHAP.  XXXIX, 

braced  ancient  Carthage,  together  with  a  considerable  territory 
around  it.  This  province  possessed  a  large  trade.  Cyrenaica,  to 
the  eastward,  included  the  island  of  Crete,  and  was  termed  a  prae- 
torian province. 

Egypt  was  ruled  by  a  governor,  who  was  always  taken  from  the 
equestrian  order.  Two  legions  only  were  stationed  in  that  prov- 
ince. Being  the  centre  of  the  trade  between  Italy  and  the  Indies, 
Egypt  accumulated  great  wealth,  and  was  renowned  for  its  exten- 
sive commerce.  It  exported  large  quantities  of  corn  to  Italy,  and 
also  papyrus,  the  best  writing  material  then  known.  The  two 
finest  kinds  of  papyrus  were  named  the  Augustan  and  the  Livian. 
Alexandria,  the  sea-port  of  Egypt,  was  the  second  city  of  the  em- 
pire. Its  commerce  was  immense ;  and  its  museum,  colleges,  li- 
brary, and  literary  men  made  it  also  the  centre  of  Greek  literature. 
Alexandria,  too,  was  famous  for  its  superstition  and  its  licentious- 
ness :  the  festivals  and  rites  of  Serapis  had  long  excited  the  con- 
tempt of  the  wiser  Romans. 

The  trade  between  Alexandria  and  the  Indies  was  carried  on 
through  two  routes :  one  was  the  famous  canal  which,  begun  by 
Pharaoh  Necho,  was  completed  under  the  government  of  the  Ptol- 
emies. Leaving  the  Nile  near  the  southern  point  of  the  Delta,  the 
canal,  after  a  somewhat  circuitous  course,  joined  the  Red  Sea  at 
the  town  of  Arsinoe,  near  the  modern  town  of  Suez.  Another 
route  was  overland  from  Coptos,  on  the  Nile,  across  the  desert,  to 
Berenice  and  Myos  Hormos.  Along  this  road  wells  were  dug  or 
reservoirs  of  water  provided,  and  thus  an  easy  communication  was 
kept  up  with  the  East.  Heavy  duties,  however,  were  laid  upon  all 
goods  entering  or  leaving  Alexandria,  and  its  extensive  trade  af- 
furded  a  great  revenue  to  the  government. 

From  Egypt  to  the  JEgcan  Sea,  various  provinces  were  created 
in  Syria  and  Asia  Minor.  The  most  extensive  of  these  were  the 
two  provinces  of  Syria  and  Asia,  which  were  governed  by  lieuten- 
ants of  the  emperor.  Judea  retained  a  nominal  independence,  un- 
der the  government  of  Herod;  Jeiusalem  was  adorned  by  Herod 
with  magnificent  buildings ;  and  Antioch,  Tyre,  and  several  other 
eastern  cities  were  still  prosperous  and  luxurious.  They  were,  how- 
ever, heavily  taxed,  and  suffered  from  the  tyranny  and  exactions 
of  their  Roman  rulers. 

Greece,  in  the  age  of  Augustus,  seems  to  have  been  a  scene  of 
desolation.  It  was  divided  into  two  provinces,  Macedonia  and 
Achaia,  both  belonging  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Senate  and  the 
people.  Greece  had  suffered  greatly  during  the  civil  wars,  and  had 
never  recovered  its  ancient  prosperity.  The  peninsula  was  partly 
depopulated.  Laconia  had  long  lost  its  importance,  and  Messcnia 


B.C.31-A.D.  14.     REIGN  OF  AUGUSTUS  CAESAR.         289 

and  Arcadia  were  almost  deserted.  Corinth  and  Patrae,  however, 
were  flourishing  Roman  colonies;  Thebes  \vas  a  mere  village; 
Athens  still  retained  its  literary  renown,  and  was  always  a  favorite 
resort  for  cultivated  Romans ;  but  its  harbor  was  deserted,  its  walls 
thrown  down,  and  the  energy  of  its  ]>eople  forever  gone. 

Macedonia  had  suffered,  equally  with  Greece,  and  no  trace  re" 
mained  of  its  former  power.  Thus  we  find  that  the  civilized  world, 
at  the  accession  of  Augustus,  was  every  where  marked  by  desola- 
tion and  decay. 

The  Roman  empire,  at  this  period,  was  bounded  on  the  north  by 
the  Euxine,  the  Danube,  the  Rhine,  and  the  British  Channel;  west- 
ward it  readied  to  the  Atlantic ;  on  the  south  it  was  confined  by  the 
deserts  of  Africa,  and  on  the  east  by  Assyria  and  Mesopotamia. 
The  Mediterranean  Sea  was  wholly  within  the  empire,  and  afford- 
ed an  easy  mode  of  communication  with  the  different  provinces. 

The  government  which  Augustus  now  established  was  designed 
to  preserve  the  memory  of  the  republic,  while  the  real  power  re- 
mained with  the  emperor  alone.  The  people  were  deprived  of  all 
their  former  importance ;  the  Comitia  were  only  suffered  to  pass 
upon  laws  proposed  by  the  Senate,  which  was  now  wholly  under 
the  control  of  the  emperor.  Consuls  and  other  magistrates  were 
still  chosen  annually,  and  Augustus,  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  reign, 
was  accustomed  to  solicit  votes  for  his  favorite  candidates,  who, 
however,  were  always  elected;  later  he  contented  himself  with  fur- 
nishing them  with  a  written  recommendation.  The  Senate  met 
twice  in  every  month,  instead  of  three  times,  as  was  the  former  cus- 
tom, except  during  September  and  October,  when  no  meetings  were 
held.  The  provinces  were  governed  by  proconsuls,  several  of  whom 
were  appointed  by  the  Senate  and  the  people;  but  all  of  them  were 
carefully  observed  by  the  emperor.  Rome  itself  was  governed  by 
a  prajfect,  whose  duty  it  was  to  preserve  the  public  peace. 

In  this  manner  Augustus,  by  the  aid  of  his  proconsuls,  held  a 
despotic  rule  over  all  his  dominions.  He  controlled  the  Senate, 
too,  through  his  authority  as  censor,  and  appointed  or  deposed  its 
members ;  and  he  raised  the  property  qualification  of  each  Senator 
to  about  $50,000.  A  large  part  of  the  people  of  the  capital  were 
maintained  by  the  free  distribution  of  corn ;  but  Augustus  reduced 
the  number  from  320,000  to  200,000,  providing  for  the  poorer  citi- 
zens by  settling  them  in  new  colonies,  and  his  measures  seem  to 
have  produced  general  contentment. 

He  was  also  sincerely  desirous  to  reform  the  morals  of  the  nation. 

Several  laws  were  passed  encouraging  marriage,  and  in  n.c.  18  he 

obliged  the  Senate  to  decree  that  marriage  should  he  imperative 

upon  everv  citizen  of  suitable  age.     Celibacy  was  punished  by  an 

T 


200  HISTORY  OF  ROME.         CHAP.  XXXIX 

incapacity  to  receive  bequests,  and  even  the  childless  married  man 
was  deprived  of  half  his  legacy ;  these  efforts,  however,  failed,  and 
a  general  license  prevailed.  As  censor,  he  sought  to  restrain  ex. 
travagance,  and  limited  the  sura  to  be  expended  upon  entertain- 
ments. He  insisted  that  the  toga,  the  national  dress,  be  worn  at 
least  at  the  public  spectacles ;  he  endeavored  to  preserve  the  dis- 
tinctions of  rank  by  providing  each  of  the  three  orders  with  its  own 
seats  in  the  circus;  and  he  plainly  sought  to  elevate  the  aristocracy, 
and  to  withdraw  all  political  power  from  the  people.  It  is  said, 
however,  that  he  once  entertained  the  design  of  resigning  his  au- 
thority, but  was  prevented  from  doing  so  by  the  advice  of  his  friends, 
who  represented  to  him  that  the  Romans  were  no  longer  capable  of 
governing  themselves. 

The  Pratorian  guard,  which  Augustus  provided  for  his  own  pro- 
tection, consisted  often  cohorts,  each  containing  800  or  1000  men, 
both  cavalry  and  foot :  of  these  only  three  cohorts  were  kept  in  the 
city,  the  others  being  distributed  through  the  Italian  towns.  These 
soldiers  received  double  pay,  and  were  commanded  by  the  prcrfectus 
prtetorii :  at  a  later  period  they  became  the  masters  of  the  empire. 

The  whole  army,  amounting  to  about  350,000  men,  was  encamp- 
ed in  various  portions  of  his  dominions.  His  fleet,  which  num- 
bered 500  ships,  was  stationed  chiefly  at  Misenum  and  Ravenna. 
His  revenues  arose  from  the  contributions  of  the  provinces,  from 
various  taxes,  and  from  the  rent  of  the  public  domain.  An  excise 
was  imposed  upon  all  goods  exposed  for  sale,  and  there  was  also  a 
tax  upon  all  bachelors. 

Augustus  encouraged  commerce  and  industry,  built  new  roads, 
and  provided  the  capital  with  an  abundance  of  food.  Games  and 
public  spectacles  were  exhibited  to  amuse  the  people,  a  free  distri- 
bution of  corn  relieved  the  indigent,  literature  was  encouraged,  the 
arts  flourished  with  new  vigor,  and  the  people  and  the  Senate, 
pleased  with  present  tranquillity,  bestowed  upon  Augustus  the  title 
of  the  Father  of  his  Country. 

Several  conspiracies,  however,  alarmed  the  emperor.  In  B.C.  30, 
Lepidus,  a  son  of  me  former  triumvir,  had  formed  a  plot  for  his  de- 
struction, which  was  detected  by  Maecenas,  and  its  author  put  to 
death.  Another,  in  B.C.  22,  was  also  unsuccessful.  In  A.D.  4,  Cinna, 
a  grandson  of  Pompey,  was  discovered  in  a  similar  attempt,  and 
was  pardoned  at  the  request  of  Livia;  he  was  afterward  even 
raised  to  the  consulship.  But  so  intimidated  was  Augustus  by  the 
fear  of  assassination,  that,  toward  the  close  of  his  life,  he  never 
went  to  a  meeting  of  the  Senate  without  wearing  a  breastplate  un- 
der his  robe. 

The  military  enterprises  of  Augustus  were  in  general  successful. 


B.C.  31-A.D.  14.     REIGN  OF  AUGUSTUS  CAESAR.         291 

He  led  an  army  into  Spain,  and  subdued  the  Cantabri  and  Asturcs, 
returning  to  Rome  B.C.  24.  While  in  Spain  he  founded  several 
cities,  among  others  Augusta  Emerita  (Merida),  and  Czesar  Augus- 
ta (Saragossa).  Phraates,  king  of  the  Parthians,  fearful  of  the  Ro- 
man arms,  gave  up  the  Roman  standards  taken  from  Crassus  and 
Antony,  B.C.  20,  and  this  event  was  celebrated  by  striking  medals 
and  by  the  verses  of  the  Augustan  poets.  The  emperor  hung  up 
the  standards  in  a  temple  which  he  had  built  at  Rome  to  Mars,  the 
Avenger. 

Tiberius  and  Drusus,  the  two  sons  of  Li  via  by  her  former  hus- 
band, were  distinguished  commanders,  and  gained  many  victories 
over  the  Germans;  but,  in  B.C.  9,  Drusus  died  from  a  fall  from 
his  horse.  Tiberius  then  took  the  command  of  the  army,  and  gain- 
ed a  great  victory  over  the  Sigambri.  He  returned  to  Rome  B.C.  6, 
and  triumphed ;  was  saluted  Imperator,  and  received  the  tribuni- 
tian  power  for  five  years. 

Soon  after,  indignant  at  the  dissolute  conduct  of  his  wife  Julia, 
and  the  honors  bestowed  upon  her  sons  by  Agrippa,  he  withdrew  to 
Rhodes,  where  he  remained  for  seven  years,  a  discontented  exile. 
He  returned  to  Rome  in  A.D.  2,  and,  two  years  after,  was  adopted 
by  Augustus  as  his  son.  He  next  conquered  a  large  part  of  Ger- 
many, and  defeated  several  large  bodies  of  the  Marcomanni  in  what 
is  now  the  territory  of  Bohemia. 

But,  while  he  was  employed  upon  this  expedition,  Arminius,  the 
German  hero,  excited  an  insurrection  of  his  countrymen  against 
the  cruel  Romans,  cut  off  Varus,  their  leader,  with  his  army,  and 
filled  Rome  with  alarm.  Germany  seemed  lost.  Augustus,  when 
he  heard  of  the  disaster,  exclaimed,  "Varus!  Varus!  give  mo 
back  my  legions !" 

Tiberius,  however,  together  with  Germanicus,  the  brave  son  of 
Drusus,  returned  to  the  defense  of  the  frontier,  but  did  not  venture 
to  penetrate  into  the  forests  beyond  the  Rhine. 

In  his  domestic  life  Augustus  was  singularly  unfortunate.  Livia, 
his  wife,  for  whom  he  entertained  a  sincere  affection,  was  a  person 
of  strong  intellect  and  various  accomplishments ;  but  she  was  de- 
scended from  the  Claudian  family,  and  inherited  all  the  pride,  am- 
bition, and  love  of  political  intrigue  which  marked  the  descendants 
of  Appius  Claudius.  She  was  also  married  to  a  Claudius,  and  thus 
her  two  sons  by  her  first  husband,  Tiberius  and  Drusus,  were  even 
more  than  herself  Claudians.  On  them  all  Livia's  affections  were 
fixed ;  to  secure  their  aggrandizement  she  hesitated  at  no  effort 
and  no  crime;  and  when  Drusus  died,  her  son  Tiberius,  who  re- 
sembled his  mother  in  disposition,  became  the  chief  object  of  her 
regard.  Her  husband  and  his  family  wore  looked  upon  with  jeal- 


292 


HISTORY  OF  HOME. 


CHAP.  XXXIX. 


ousy  and  dislike,  and  the  darkest  suspicions  were  aroused  at  Rome 
by  the  death,  one  by  one,  of  every  person  who  stood  between  Ti- 
berius and  the  throne. 

Livia  had  no  child  by  her  second  marriage,  and  the  only  heir  of 
Augustus  was  Julia,  the  daughter  of  his  former  wife,  Scribonia. 
Julia  was  beautiful,  intelligent,  and  highly  educated ;  and  Augus- 
tus, who  was  strongly  attached  to  his  own  family,  looked  upon  his 
daughter  with  singular  affection  and  pride.  He  hoped  to  see  her 
grow  up  pure,  wise,  and  discreet — a  new  Lttcretia,  the  representa- 
tive of  the  ideal  Roman  matron;  and  he  early  accustomed  Julia 
to  practice  moderation  in  dress,  to  spend  hours  at  the  spinning- 
wheel,  and  to  look  upon  herself  as  destined  to  become  the  model 
and  example  of  Roman  women. 

Julia  was  first  married  to  her  cousin  Marcellus,  the  son  of  Oc- 
tavia,  a  young  man  of  excellent  character,  whom  Augustus  adopted, 
and  probably  destined  as  his  successor;  but,  in  B.C.  23,  Marcellus 
died,  amid  the  sincere  grief  of  all  the  Romans.  Marcellus  has 
been  made  immortal  by  a  few  touching  lines  of  Virgil. 


Gold  coin  of  Agrippa,  with  heiid  of  Augustus. 


Not  long  after,  Augustus  married  Julia  to  his  friend  Agrippa, 
and  they  had  five  children — three  sons,  Caius,  Lucius,  and  Agrippa 
Postumus,  the  latter  being  born  after  the  death  of  his  father,  and 
two  daughters,  Julia  and  Agrippina.  These  children  were  now 
the  hope  of  the  people  and  the  emperor,  and  objects  of  jealousy  and 
dislike  to  Livia  and  Tiberius. 

In  B.C.  12  Agrippa  died.  Augustus  then  prevailed  upon  Tibe- 
rius to  divorce  his  own  wife,  to  whom  he  was  sincerely  attached,  in 
order  to  marry  Julia.  Their  union  was  an  unhappy  one,  and,  after 
living  together  for  about  a  year,  they  separated  forever. 

The  conduct  of  Julia,  in  fact,  had  long  been  marked  by  gross 
immoralities,  and  Augustus  alone  was  unconscious  of  her  unwor- 
thiness.  He  refused  to  believe  that  his  daughter,  whom  he  had 
destined  to  become  an  example  of  purity,  had  so  deceived  and  dis- 
honored him.  At  length,  however,  he  became  convinced  of  her 
guilt,  and  banished  her  (B.C.  2)  to  the  island  Pandataria  (Santa 
Maria),  off  the  coast  of  Campania,  where  she  was  treated  with  just 


B.C.  31-A.D.  14.     REIGN  OF  AUGUSTUS  CvESAR         2!)3 

severity.  Her  daughter  Julia,  who  had  shared  in  her  excesses, 
was  also  sent  into  exile. 

Meanwhile  Caius  and  Lucius  Caesar  both  died  suddenly.  Caius 
was  sent  to  the  East  in  B.C.  1,  to  improve  himself  in  military  af- 
fairs, and  there  died,  A.D.  3,  from  the  effects  of  a  wound  given  him 
by  an  assassin.  Lucius,  the  younger,  having  gone  on  a  mission  to 
Spain  in  A.D.  2,  fell  sick  and  died  at  Massilia.  About  this  time 
Tiberius  had  been  recalled  from  Rhodes  and  intrusted  with  the 
chief  care  of  public  affairs.  It  was  believed  at  Rome  that  Livia 
and  her  son  had  removed  the  two  Cocsars  by  poison  and  assassina- 
tion. 

All  happiness  must  now  have  fled  from  the  breast  of  the  empe- 
ror. He  still,  however,  attended  carefully  to  the  duties  of  his  sta- 
tion. In  A.D.  4  he  adopted  Tiberius,  together  with  Agrippa  Pos~ 
tumus ;  Tiberius  was  obliged  at  the  same  time  to  adopt  German- 
icus,  the  eldest  son  of  his  brother  Drusus.  In  A.D.  7  Augustus 
was  induced  to  banish  Agrippa  Postumus,  who  proved  unworthy 
of  his  favor,  to  the  island  of  Planasia,  and  this  act  was  ratified  by 
a  decree  of  the  Senate ;  it  was  thought,  however,  that  Livia  was 
again  the  cause  of  this  unnatural  act.  In  A.D.  8  the  poet  Ovid 
was  banished  for  some  unknown  crime. 


Medal  of  Agrippina,  showing  the  Garpcntum,  or  chariot,  in  which  the  Rom»n 
hulk'.-  were  accustomed  to  ride. 

It  was  in  the  year  5  or  7  B.C.,  for  the  true  date  is  unknown, 
>that  Jesus  Christ,  the  Savior  of  the  world,  was  born  at  Bethlehem, 
in  Judea. 

In  A.D.  14,  Augustus,  aided  by  Tiberius,  took  a  census — the  third 
during  his  reign.  His  health,  which  had  always  been  delicate,  now 
rapidly  declined.  He  had  long  borne  with  patience  the  infirmities 
of  old  age,  and  he  now  retired  to  Nola,  where  he  died,  August  19, 
A.D.  14.  in  the  same  room  where  his  father  had  died  before  him. 


294  HISTORY  OF  ROME.        CHAP.  XXXIX 

It  is  said  that  as  he  was  dying  he  exclaimed  to  those  around  liim, 
"Have  I  not  acted  my  part  well?  It  is  time  for  the  applause." 

He  was  seventy-six  years  old.  His  subjects  lamented  his  death 
with  sincere  grief,  since  they  had  felt  the  happy  effects  of  his  care. 
His  funeral  rites  were  performed  in  great  solemnity ;  his  body  was 
burned  on  the  Campus  Martins,  and  his  ashes  were  placed  in  the 
splendid  mausoleum  which  he  had  built  for  himself  and  his  family. 
The  Senate  ordered  him  to  be  numbered  among  the  gods  of  Rome. 

In  appearance  Augustus  was  of  middle  stature,  his  features  reg- 
ular, and  his  eyes  of  uncommon  brilliancy.  He  was  a  tolerable 
writer,  and  capable  of  distinguishing  literary  merit ;  his  chosen 
friends  were  all  men  of  letters ;  and  his  fame  with  posterity  rests, 
in  a  great  degree,  upon  that  circle  of  poets,  historians,  and  eminent 
scholars  by  whom  he  was  surrounded.  The  Augustan  Age,  in- 
deed, forms  one  of  the  most  remarkable  periods  in  the  history  of 
the  human  intellect. 


Medal  of  Augustus,  showing  the  myrtle  crown,  or  Corona  ovalia. 


Medal  of  Nero,  showing  an  Organ  and  a  sprig  of  Laurel,  probably  designed  as  a 
prize  medal  for  a  musician. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

FROM   THE    ACCESSION   OF  TIBERIUS,  A.D.   14-37,  TO   BOMITIAN, 
A.D.  96. 

A  FEELING  resembling  loyalty  had  grown  up  at  Rome  toward 
the  family  of  Augustus,  and  no  one  ventured  to  dispute  the  claim 
of  Tiberius  to  the  throne.  Livia,  however,  who  had  attended  the 
death-bed  of  the  emperor,  concealed  hie  death  until  her  son  ar- 
rived, and  then  proclaimed,  at  the  same  moment,  the  death  of  Au- 
gustus and  the  accession  of  his  successor.  The  first  event  of  the 
new  reign  was  the  assassination  of  Agrippa  Postumus,  grandson 
of  Augustus,  and,  according  to  the  modern  rule  of  descent,  the 
proper  heir  to  the  throne.  The  guilt  of  this  act  was  shared  be- 
tween Tiberius  and  his  mother,  who  were  also  accused  of  having 
hastened  the  death  of  Augustus. 

Tiberius  summoned  the  Senate  to  assemble,  announced  the  death 
of  the  emperor,  and  pretended  a  wish  to  be  relieved  from  the  cares 
of  empire ;  the  Senate,  however,  refused  to  accept  his  feigned  resig- 
nation, and  he  yielded  to  their  wishes.  This  body  now  became  the 
chief  source  of  legislation.  Tiberius  took  atvay  from  the  people 
the  power  of  making  laws  and  of  electing  magistrates.  The  sena- 
tus  consulta,  or  decrees  of  the  Senate,  were  made  the  source  of  law, 
without  any  authority  from  the  Comitia.  The  Senate  selected  the 
Consuls  from  four  candidates  presented  to  them  by  the  emperor, 
and  thus  the  last  trace  of  the  popular  power  passed  away. 

Meanwhile  two  mutinies  occurred  among  the  soldiers,  which 


296  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP,  XL. 

seemed  at  first  to  threaten  a  change  in  the  government.  The  le- 
gions of  Pannonia,  complaining  of  long  service  and  indifferent  pay, 
rose  against  their  commander  Blo;sus,  but  were  induced  to  return 
to  their  duty  by  Drusus,  the  son  of  Tiberius.  A  more  important 
insurrection  broke  out  among  the  legions  of  the  Rhine,  who  sought 
to  prevail  upon  Germanicus,  the  son  of  Drusus,  to  accept  the  impe- 
rial crown.  Germanicus,  however,  who  was  adorned  with  many 
noble  qualities,  refused  to  yield  either  to  their  entreaties  or  their 
threats.  Agrippina,  his  wife,  with  the  infant  Caius,  joined  Ger- 
manicus in  imploring  the  soldiers  not  to  forget  their  duty  <,  and 
they  at  length  relented,  and  even  gave  up  their  leaders. 

Germanicus  had  now  deserved  the  hatred  of  the  jealous  and 
treacherous  Tiberius.  He  was  beloved  by'the  people  and  the  army, 
was  frank,  generous,  and  brave ;  he  had  married  Agrippina,  the 
daughter  of  Julia  and  Agrippa,  and  was  the  adopted  son  of  the  em- 
peror  himself.  His  mind  had  been  highly  cultivated,  and  lie  ex- 
celled in  all  elegant  exercises.  He  seems,  in  fact,  to  have  been 
one  of  the  noblest  of  the  Romans. 

In  A.D.  14  he  led  an  army  across  the  Rhine,  but  the  next  )'ear 
planned  a  more  important  expedition,  in  which  he  defeated  the 
Germans  under  Arminius,  and  buried  the  remains  of  the  army  of 
the  unfortunate  Yarns  under  an  earthen  mound.  His  third  cam- 
paign was  still  more  successful.  In  A.D.  1G  he  gained  an  import- 
ant battle  in  the  valley  of  the  Weser,  and  recovered  the  last  of  the 
eagles  lost  by  Varus. 

Tiberius,  jealous  of  his  fame,  now  recalled  him,  and  resolved 
that  the  limits  of  the  empire  should  not  be  enlarged.  In  A.D.  17 
Germanicus  triumphed,  surrounded  in  his  chariot  by  his  five  sons. 
The  same  year  he  was  sent  to  the  E;ist  to  settle  the  affairs  of  the 
Eastern  provinces.  Meanwhile  a  war  broke  out  in  Germany  be- 
tween Arminius  and  Marboduus.  Drusus  was  sent  thither  to  con- 
trive the  destruction  of  both  leaders,  which  he  seems  to  have  ef- 
fected, since  Marboduus  was  driven  to  seek  protection  from  the 
Romans,  while  the  brave  Arminius  was  soon  after  slain  by  the 
hands  of  his  fellow- Germans. 

Germanicus,  in  A.D.  18,  visited  Athens,  sailed  up  the  Nile  the 
same  year,  and  then,  having  returned  to  Syria,  died  of  poison  ad- 
ministered to  him  by  Cn.  Piso,  a  friend  of  the  Empress  Livia.  His 
death  excited  great  grief  at  Rome,  where  he  was  buried  with  so- 
lemnity in  A.D.  20.  Piso,  meanwhile,  being  tried  before  ths  Sen- 
ate, and  finding  himself  about  to  be  condemned,  sought  a  volun- 
tary death. 

Tiberius  was  cold  and  unpopular  in  his  manners,  awkward  and 
even  timid  in  his  carriage,  but  a  master  of  dissimul  itio'n.  The  only 


A.D.  14-9G.    FROM  TIBERIUS  TO  DOMITIAN.  297 

person  of  whom  he  stood  in  awe  was  his  mother  Livia;  but  he  lived 
in  constant  fear  of  insurrection.  The  Lex  Majestas,  which  he  en- 
larged and  enforced  with  unusual  severity,  was  now  the  source  of 
great  evil  to  his  country.  This  law  denned  treason  against  the 
emperor.  Tiberius  made  it  include  words  as  well  as  acts,  and 
thus  he  who  spoke  lightly  of  the  emperor's  person  or  authority 
might  be  punished  with  death. 

From  this  law  grew  up  the  Delatores,  or  informers,  persons  who 
made  it  their  chief  occupation  to  denounce  those  who  were  obnox- 
ious to  the  emperor.  The  informers  soon  grew  numerous :  some 
of  them  were  persons  of  high  rank,  who  sought  to  display  their  elo- 
quence, and  to  win  the  favor  of  the  emperor,  by  denouncing  his 
opponents  in  envenomed  rhetoric,  while  others  were  common  spies. 
No  man's  life  was  safe  at  Rome  from  this  moment,  and  the  purest 
and  wisest  citizens  were  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  delators.  Tiberius  encouraged  the  informers.  ^Elius  Sat- 
urninus  was  flung  from  the  Tarpeian  Rock  for  a  libel  upon  the 
emperor.  Silanus  was  banished  for  "disparaging  the  majesty  of 
Tiberius." 

Tiberius,  who  professed  to  imitate  the  policy  of  Augustus  in  ev- 
ery particular,  seems  to  have  governed  with  firmness  and  ability. 
He  improved  the  condition  of  the  provinces,  restrained  the  avarice 
of  the  provincial  governors,  maintained  good  order  in  the  capital, 
and  strove  to  check  the  growth  of  luxury ;  but  the  morals  of  the 
capital  were  now  hopelessly  depraved,  and  the  vice  and  corruption 
of  the  whole  world  flowed  into  the  streets  of  Rome. 

^Elius  Sejanus,  the  Praefect  of  the  Praetorians,  had  long  been  the 
friend  and  chief  adviser  of  the  emperor.  He  was  cruel,  unscru- 
pulous, and  ambitious — the  proper  instrument  of  a  tyrant.  In 
A.D.  21  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  Gaul,  which  was  scarcely 
subdued  when  the  Germans  rose  against  the  Romans.  The  Gauls, 
too,  led  by  Sacrovir,  a  Druid,  who  exercised  a  superstitious  influ- 
ence over  his  countrymen,  once  more  rebelled.  Drusus,  who  had 
been  made  Consul  with  his  father,  was  sent  against  them,  and  re- 
duced them  to  subjection.  The  Druid  Sacrovir  burned  himself  in 
a  house  to  which  he  had  fled.  In  A.D.  22  Drusus  received  the 
tribunitian  power.  He  was  the  only  son  of  Tiberius,  and  was 
married  to  Livia,  or  Livilla,  as  she  was  sometimes  called. 

Sejanus  had  now  conceived  a  design  which  led  him  to  resolve 
upon  the  destruction  of  all  the  imperial  family,  since  he  himself 
began  to  aspire  to  the  throne ;  and  the  elevation  of  Drusus  filled 
him  with  disgust.  In  A.D.  23  he  prevailed  upon  Tiberius  to  re- 
move all  the  Praetorian  Guards,  about  nine  or  ten  thousand  in 
number,  to  a  camp  near  the  city.  He  appointed  their  officers, 


2'J8  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XL. 

won  the  soldiers  with  bribes  and  flatteries,  and  thus  believed  he  had 
gained  a  sure  support. 

Drusus  stood  in  his  path,  and  he  resolved  to  destroy  him.  He 
won  the  affections  of  Livilla,  and  prevailed  upon  her  to  poison  her 
husband.  The  unhappy  prince  died  in  23.  Tiberius  received  the 
news  of  his  son's  death  with  a  composure  almost  incredible.  He 
told  the  Senate,  who  put  on  mourning  robes,  that  he  had  given 
himself  to  his  country.  A  splendid  funeral  procession  was  pre- 
pared for  Drusus,  in  which  the  statues  of  Attus  Clausus,  the  Sabine 
chief,  the  founder  of  the  Claudian  Gens,  and  of  ^Eneas,  and  the 
Alban  kings,  were  carried  side  by  side,  thus  recalling  the  memories 
of  the  early  regal  dynasty,  as  well  as  of  the  severe  founders  of  the 
Republic. 

Agrippina,  the  widow  of  Germanicus,  together  with  her  numer- 
ous family,  next  aroused  the  hostility  of  Sejanus,  and  he  resolved 
upon  their  destruction.  In  A.D.  25  he  proposed  for  the  hand  of 
Livilla, but  Tiberius  refused  to  sanction  the  connection.  In  A.D. 
26  eleven  cities  contended  for  the  privilege  of  making  Tiberius 
their  tutelar  deity,  but  he  declined  this  honor.  Soon  after,  the 
emperor,  as  if  anxious  to  escape  from  the  sarcasms  and  the  scandal 
of  Rome,  retired  from  the  city,  accompanied  by  a  single  Senator, 
Cocceius  Nerva,  and  at  length,  in  A.D.  27,  hid  himself  in  the  island 
of  Caprese,  on  the  coast  of  Campania.  Here  he  built  twelve  villas 
in  different  parts  of  the  island,  and  lived  with  a  few  companions, 
shut  out  from  mankind.  No  one  was  allowed  to  land  upon  the 
shores  of  Caprese,  and  even  fishermen  who  broke  this  rule  through 
ignorance  were  severely  punished.  Every  day,  however,  dispatches 
were  brought  from  the  continent,  and  he  still  continued  to  direct 
the  affairs  of  his  vast  empire. 

Sejanus  was  left  to  govern  Rome,  but  frequently  visited  the  Env> 
peror  at  his  island.  In  A.D.  29,  Livia,  the  widow  of  Augustus, 
died,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years,  having  retained  her  powerful 
intellect  and  her  love  of  political  intrigue  to  the  close  of  her  life. 
It  is  said  that  her  private  charities  were  great,  and  that  she  re- 
mained faithful  to  the  memory  of  her  imperial  husband.  The  fam- 
ily of  Germanicus,  meanwhile,  were  crushed  by  the  arts  of  Sejanus. 
In  A.D.  29  Tiberius  directed  the  Senate  to  banish  Agrippina  and 
her  son  Nero,  and  they  were  confined  separately  upon  two  barren 
islands.  Drusus,  the  second  son,  was  soon  after  imprisoned  ;  while 
Cains,  the  youngest,  by  his  flatteries  and  caresses,  preserved  the  fa- 
vor of  Tiberius,  and  was  admitted  into  Caprea;.  The  emperor  now 
began  to  doubt  the  fidelity  of  his  chosen  friend  Sejanus,  although 
their  statues  had  been  placed  together  in  the  Temple  of  Friendship 
on  the  island ;  and  he  sent  a  letter  to  the  Senate  in  which  he  de- 


A.D.  14-9G.    FROM  TIBERIUS  TO  DOMIT1AN. 


29J) 


nounced  him  as  a  traitor.  Such  was  the  end  of  a  guilty  friend- 
ship. Sejanus  was  flung  into  the  Mamertine  Prison,  and  there 
strangled.  The  people  threw  his  body  into  the  Tiber,  A.D.  81. 
Great  numbers  of  his  friends  or  relatives  perished  with  him,  and  a 
general  massacre  filled  Rome  with  terror.  He  was  succeeded  in 
his  power  by  Sertorius  Macro,  who  had  aided  in  his  destruction. 

Tiberius,  meanwhile,  seems  to  have  become  a  raging  madman. 
He  put  to  death  his  niece  Agrippina,  with  her  two  children,  and 
ruled  over  the  Senate  with  pitiless  cruelty.  His  companion,  Coc- 
ceius  Nerva,  filled  with  melancholy  at  the  misfortunes  of  his  coun- 
try, resolved  upon  suicide ;  nor  could  all  the  entreaties  or  com- 
mands of  Tiberius  prevail  upon  him  to  live.  In  A.D.  35  Tiberius 
made  his  will,  dividing  his  estate  between  Caius,  the  youngest  son 
of  Germanicus,  and  Tiberius  Gemellus,  the  son  of  the  second  Dru- 
sus.  Macro,  probably  fearing  the  fate  of  Sejanus,  had  formed  a 
close  intimacy  with  Caius,  and  they  now  planned  the  death  of  the 
emperor,  whose  feeble  health,  however,  since  he  was  near  seventy- 
seven  years  of  age,  promised  Rome  a  speedy  deliverance.  Tibe- 
rius died  March  16,  A.D.  37,  Macro,  it  is  said,  having  smothered 
him  with  a  pillow. 

If  we  may  trust  the  account  of  the  Jew  Philo,  he  left  the  empire 
in  a  prosperous  condition.  His  cruelty,  in  fact,  seems  to  have  been 
exercised  upon  the  great  and  the  rich,  while  the  people  lived  in 
security.  His  administration  maybe  said  to  have  been  a  fortunate 
one.  His  character  and  his  crimes  disgrace  human  nature. 


Reverses  of  Roman  brass  Coins,  showing  Galleys 


REIGN  OF  CAICS  CALIGULA,  A.D.  37-41. — Caius  Caesar,  known 
as  Caligula,  was  the  son  of  Germanicus  and  Agrippina,  and  men 
fondly  hoped  that  he  had  inherited  the  virtues  of  his  father,  whom 
he  resembled  in  his  personal  appearance.  The  soldiers  proclaimed 
him  emperor,  and  the  Senate  and  the  people  acknowledged  him 
with  unfeigned  joy.  He  was  now  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  his 


300  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CII.M-.  XL. 

first  acts  were  generous  and  humane,  lie  recalled  many  exiles, 
abolished  various  taxes,  and  gratified  the  people  with  spectacles 
and  gifts.  He  also  buried  the  remains  of  his  mother  and  brother, 
who  had  died  in  exile,  with  decent  solemnity. 

But,  having  been  seized  with  a  severe  illness  after  he  had  reign, 
ed  eight  months,  upon  his  recovery  his  mind  seemed  to  have  been 
fatally  injured.  He  abandoned  himself  to  cruelty  and  lust ;  he 
surpassed  the  vices  of  Tiberius ;  and  at  length,  declaring  himself 
to  be  a  god,  would  often  go  through  the  streets  of  Rome  dressed  as 
Bacchus,  Venus,  or  Apollo:  he  compelled  the  people  to  worship 
him,  and  made  the  wealthiest  citizens  his  priests.  He  even  con- 
ferred the  consulship  on  his  favorite  horse. 

His  boundless  wastefulness  soon  consumed  the  public  treasures, 
and  he  was  forced  to  resort  to  every  kind  of  extortion  to  obtain 
money.  Having  exhausted  Rome  and  Italy,  in  A.D.  39  he  led  a 
large  army  across  the  Alps  for  the  purpose  of  plundering  Gaul, 
where  the  richest  citizens  were  put  to  death  and  their  property  con- 
fiscated. He  was  assassinated  in  his  palace  January  24,  A.D.  41 . 

REIGN  OF  TIBERIUS  CLAUDIUS  Dnusus  NERO,  A.D.  41-54.- — The 
Emperor  Claudius  was  the  son  of  Drusus  and  Antonia,  and  tho 
brother  of  Germanicus.  He  was  fifty-one  years  old  when,  after  the 
murder  of  Caligula,  the  Praetorian  Guard  raised  him  to  the  throne. 
His  health  had  always  been  delicate,  his  mind  feeble,  and  he  had 
never  tnken  any  part  in  public  affairs.  His  first  acts  were  popular 
and  mild,  but,  having  fallen  under  the  control  of  his  wife  Mcssalinn, 
who  was  a  monster  of  wickedness,  he  put  to  death  many  of  the  host 
of  the  Romans.  When,  however,  Messalina  ventured  to  marry 
C.  Silius,  a  young  Roman  knight,  Claudius  directed  her  execution. 
He  then  married  his  niece  Agrippina,  who  prevailed  upon  him  to 
set  aside  his  son  Britannicus,  and  to  adopt  her  own  son  Nero,  who 
was  now  destined  for  the  throne.  Nero  was  educated  by  the  phi- 
losopher Seneca,  together  with  Burrus  Afranius,  prefect  of  the 
Praetorians.  Claudius,  however,  becoming  suspicious  of  the  de- 
signs of  his  wife,  she  resolved  upon  his  death.  Locusta,  a  noted 
JM  isoner,  was  hired  to  prepare  a  dish  of  poisoned  mushrooms,  of 
which  Claudius  ate :  but  the  poison  not  proving  fatal,  the  physician 
Xenophon  forced  a  larger  quantity  into  his  throat,  and  he  died 
October  13,  A.D.  54. 

Claudius  was  fond  of  letters,  and  wrote  memoirs  of  his  own  time 
and  histories  in  Greek  of  Etrnria  and  of  Carthage.  He  also  made 
various  useful  laws,  and  carried  out  several  public  works  of  import- 
ance. He  completed  the  Claudian  aqueduct,  begun  by  Caligula, 
and  built  a  fort  and  light-house  at  Ostia,  and  a  tunnel  from  Lake 
Lucinus  to  the  River  Liris.  (Jolonia  Ayrijytinu  (Cologne^  was 


A.D.  14-00.     FROM  TIBERIUS  TO  DOMITIAN.  301 

raised  by  his  orders  to  the  most  important  military  station  in  Low. 
cr  Germany. 

In  A.D.  4o  a.  Roman  army  invaded  Britain.  Claudius  himself 
entered  that  country  soon  after,  and  returned  to  Rome  to  triumph. 
But  Vespasian,  afterward  emperor,  together  with  his  son  Titus, 
overran  Britain,  defeated  Cai'actacus,  the  bravo  British  chieftain, 
and  sent  him  and  his  family  prisoners  to  Rome.  Claudius,  pleased 
tvith  his  manly  conduct,  gave  him  his  liberty. 

XERO,  A.I).  fi4-G8. — The  first  five  years  of  the  reign  of  Nero 
were  marked  by  the  mildness  and  equity  of  his  government.  He 
discouraged  luxury,  reduced  the  taxes,  and  increased  the  authority 
of  the  Senate.  His  two  preceptors,  Seneca  and  Burrus,  controlled 
his  mind,  and  restrained  for  a,  time  the  constitutional  insanity  of 
the  Claudian  race.  At  length,  however,  he  sank  into  licentious- 
ness, and  from  licentiousness  to  its  necessary  attendants,  cruelty 
and  crime.  From  a  modest  and  philosophic  youth,  Nero  became 
the  most  cruel  and  dissolute  of  tyrants.  He  quarreled  with  his 
mother  Agrippina,  who  for  his  sake  had  murdered  the  feeble  Clau- 
dius ;  and  when  she  threatened  to  restore  Britannicus  to  the  throne, 
he  ordered  that  young  prince  to  be  poisoned  at  an  entertainment. 
In  order  to  marry  Poppasa  Sabina,  a,  beautiful  and  dissolute  wom- 
an, Avife  of  Salvius  Otho,  he  resolved  to  divorce  his  wife  Octavia, 
and  also  to  murder  his  mother  Agrippina.  Under  the  pretense  of 
a  reconciliation,  he  invited  Agrippina  to  meet  him  at  Baiaj,  where 
she  was  placed  in  a  boat,  which  fell  to  pieces  as  she  entered  it. 
Agrippina  swam  to  the  shore,  but  was  there  assassinated  by  the  or- 
ders of  her  son.  The  Roman  Senate  congratulated  Nero  upon  this 
fearful  deed,  while  the  philosopher  Seneca  wrote  a  defense  of  the 
matricide.  The  philosopher,  the  Senate,  and  the  emperor  seem 
worthy  of  each  other. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  enumerate  all  the  crimes  of  Nero.  In 
A.D.  C4  a  fire  broke  out  in  Rome,  which  lasted  for  six  days,  con- 
suming the  greater  part  of  the  city.  Nero  was  supposed  to  have 
ordered  the  city  to  be  fired,  to  obtain  a  clear  representation  of  the 
burning  of  Troy,  and,  while  Rome  was  in  flames,  amused  himself 
by  playing  upon  musical  instruments.  He  sought  to  throw  the 
odium  of  this  event  upon  the  Christians,  and  inflicted  upon  them 
fearful  cruelties.  The  city  was  rebuilt  upon  an  improved  plan, 
and  Nero's  palace,  called  the  Golden  House,  occupied  a  large  part 
of  the  ruined  capital  with  groves,  gardens,  and  buildings  of  un- 
eqnaled  magnificence. 

In  A.D.  G5  a  plot  was  discovered  in  which  many  eminent  Ro- 
mans were  engaged.  The  poet  Lucan,  Seneca,  the  philosopher 
*uul  defender  of  matricide,  together  with  many  others,  were  put  to 


302  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  XL. 

death.  In  A.D.  67  Nero  traveled  to  Greece,  and  performed  on  the 
cithara  at  the  Olympian  and  Isthmian  games.  He  also  contended 
for  the  prize  in  singing,  and  put  to  death  a  singer  whose  voice  was 
louder  than  his  own.  Stained  with  every  crime  of  which  human 
nature  is  capable,  haunted  by  the  shade  of  the  mother  he  had  mur- 
dered, and  filled  with  remorse,  Nero  was  finally  dethroned  by  the 
Praetorian  Guards,  and  died  by  his  own  hand,  June  9,  A.D.  68.  He 
was  the  last  of  the  Claudian  family.  No  one  remained  who  had 
an  hereditary  claim  to  the  empire  of  Augustus,  and  the  future  em- 
perors were  selected  by  the  Praetorian  Guards  or  the  provincial 
legions. 

During  this  reign,  Boadicea,  the  British  queen,  A.D.  61,  revolted 
against  the  Romans  and  defeated  several  armies  ;  but  the  govern- 
or, Suetonius  Paulinus,  conquered  the  insurgents  in  a  battle  in 
which  eighty  thousand  Britons  are  said  to  have  fallen.  Boadicea, 
unwilling  to  survive  her  liberty,  put  an  end  to  her  life. 

On  the  death  of  Nero,  Servius  Sulpicius  Galba,  already  chosen 
emperor  by  the  Praetorians  and  the  Senate,  was  murdered  in  the 
Forum,  January,  A.D.  69.  He  was  succeeded  by  Salvius  Otho,  the 
infamous  friend  of  Nero,  and  the  husband  of  Poppsea  Sabina.  The 
legions  on  the  Rhine,  however,  proclaimed  their  own  commander, 
A.  Vitellius,  emperor,  and  Otho's  forces  being  defeated  in  a,  battle 
near  Bedriacum,  between  Verona  and  Cremona,  he  destroyed  him- 
self. 

Vitellius,  the  new  emperor,  was  remarkable  for  his  gluttony  and 
his  coarse  vices.  He  neglected  every  duty  of  his  office,  and  soon 
became  universally  contemptible.  Vespasian,  the  distinguished 
general,  who  had  been  fighting  successfully  against  the  Jews  in 
Palestine,  was  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  governor  of  Egypt. 
Leaving  his  son  Titus  to  continue  the  war,  Vespasian  prepared  to 
advance  upon  Rome.  His  brave  adherent,  Antonius  Primus,  at 
the  head  of  the  legions  of  the  Danube,  without  any  orders  from 
Vespasian,  marched  into  Italy  and  defeated  the  army  of  Vitellius. 
The  Praetorians  and  the  Roman  populace  still  supported  Vitellius; 
a  fearful  massacre  took  place  in  the  city,  and  the  Capitoline  Tem- 
ple was  burned ;  but  Antonius  Primus  took  the  Praetorian  camp, 
and  Vitellius  was  dragged  from  his  palace  and  put  to  death,  De- 
cember 20,  A.D.  69. 

REIGN  OF  T.  FLAVIUS  VESPASIAXUS,  A.D.  69-79. — Vespasian, 
the  founder  of  the  first  Flavian  family  of  emperors,  was  a  soldier 
of  fortune,  who  had  risen  from  a  low  station  to  high  command  in 
the  army.  He  was  brave,  active,  free  from  vice,  and,  although  fond 
of  money,  was  never  charged  with  extortion  or  rapacity.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  summer,  A.D.  70,  he  arrived  in  Rome,  and  received 


A.D.  14-9G.     FROM  TIBERIUS  TO  DOMITIAN.  303 

the  imperium  from  the  Senate.  He  began  at  once  to  restore  dis- 
cipline in  the  army,  and  raised  to  the  rank  of  Senators  and  Equites 
illustrious  men  from  the  provinces,  as  well  as  from  Italy  and  Rome, 
thus  giving  to  the  provincials  a  certain  share  in  the  government. 
The  courts  of  justice  were  purified,  the  Uelatorea,  or  spies,  were  dis- 
countenanced, and  trials  for  treason  ceased.  To  increase  his  rev- 
enues, Vespasian  renewed  the  taxes  in  several  provinces  which  had 
been  exempted  by  Nero,  and  he  introduced  economy  and  good  or- 
der into  the  administration  of  the  finances.  Yet  he  expended  largo 
sums  in  rebuilding  the  Capitoline  Temple,  and  also  in  completing 
the  Colosseum,  whose  immense  ruins  form  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able features  in  the  modern  scenery  of  Rome.  He  built,  too,  the 
Temple  of  Peace  and  a  public  library.  He  appointed  lecturers 
upon  rhetoric,  with  a  salary  of  100  sesterces,  but  was  possessed 
himself  of  little  mental  cultivation.  He  is  even  said  to  have  dis- 
liked literary  men,  and,  in  the  year  A.D.  74,  expelled  the  Stoic  and 
Cynic  philosophers  from  Rome. 

In  A.D.  70,  September  2,  his  son  Titus  took  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem, after  a  brave  defense  by  the  Jews,  who  were  finally  betrayed 
by  their  own  factions.  The  city  was  totally  destroyed,  and  nearly 
half  a  million  of  the  Jews  perished  in  the  siege.  Those  who  sur- 
vived, being  forbidden  to  rebuild  their  city,  were  scattered  over  the 
empire,  and  each  Jew  was  compelled  to  pay  a  yearly  tax  of  two 
drachmae,  which  was  appropriated  to  rebuilding  the  Capitoline 
Temple.  The  Arch  of  Titus,  which  still  exists  at  Rome,  was 
erected  in  commemoration  of  the  fall  of  Jerusalem. 

Vespasian's  generals  repressed  an  insurrection  of  the  Germans, 
and  in  A.D.  71  C.  Julius  Agricola,  father-in-law  of  the  historian 
Tacitus,  entered  Britain  as  legate  to  Petilius  Cerialis.  He  was 
made  governor  of  the  province  in  A.D.  77,  and  led  his  victorious 
armies  as  far  north  as  the  Highlands  of  Scotland.  This  excellent 
character,  by  his  justice  and  moderation,  reconciled  the  Britons  to 
the  Roman  yoke. 

By  his  first  wife,  Flavia  Domatilla,  Vespasian  had  three  chil- 
dren— Titus,  Domitian,  and  Domatilla.  When  she  died  he  formed 
an  inferior  kind  of  marriage  with  Ccenis,  a  woman  of  low  station, 
who,  however,  seems  to  have  deserved  his  esteem.  He  died  23d 
of  June,  A.D.  79,  at  the  age  of  seventy.  Although  never  a  refined 
or  cultivated  man,  Vespasian,  by  his  hardy  virtues,  restored  the 
vigor  of  the  Roman  government,  and  gave  peace  and  prosperity  to 
his  subjects  ;  while  he  who  founded  a  library  and  established 
schools  of  rhetoric  can  not  have  been  so  wholly  illiterate  as  some 
writers  have  imagined. 


304  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  XL. 

REIGN    OF    TITUS,    A.D.    79-81. 

Titus  was  one  of  the  most  .accomplished  and  benevolent  of  men. 
Eloquent,  warlike,  moderate  in  his  desires,  he  was  called  Amor  et 
ilelicice  humani  generis,  "The  love  and  the  delight  of  the  human 
race."  In  early  life  he  had  been  thought  inclined  to  severity,  and 
his  treatment  of  the  Jews,  at  the  fall  of  their  city,  does  not  seem 
in  accordance  with  his  character  for  humanity.  But  no  sooner  had 
he  ascended  the  throne  than  he  won  a  general  affection.  Such 
was  the  mildness  of  his  government  that  no  one  was  punished  at 
Home  for  political  offenses.  Those  who  conspired  against  him  he 
not  only  pardoned,  but  took  into  his  familiarity.  He  was  so  gen- 
erous that  he  could  refuse  no  request  for  aid.  He  was  resolved,  he 
said,  that  no  one  should  leave  his  presence  sorrowful ;  and  he 
thought  that  day  lost  in  which  he  had  done  no  good  deed.  Titus 
wrote  poems  and  tragedies  in  Greek,  and  was  familiar  with  his  na- 
tive literature.  During  his  reign,  A.D.  79,  occurred  a  violent  erup- 
tion of  Vesuvius,  together  with  an  earthquake,  by  which  Hercula- 
neum,  Stabise,  and  Pompeii,  three  towns  on  the  Bay  of  Naples, 
were  destroyed.  The  emperor  was  so  touched  by  the  sufferings  of 
the  inhabitants  that  he  expended  nearly  his  whole  private  fortune 
in  relieving  their  wants.  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  which  were 
covered  by  lava  or  ashes,  were  thus  preserved  from  farther  decay, 
and,  having  been  partially  excavated  and  restored,  enable  us  to  form 
a  truthful  conception  of  the  domestic  life  of  the  Roman  cities  in  the 
age  of  Titus.  We  here  enter  the  villas  of  the  rich  or  the  humble 
homes  of  the  poor,  and  find  every  where  traces  of  comfort,  elegance, 
and  taste. 

The  next  year  after  the  destruction  of  these  cities,  a  fire  broke 
out  in  Rome,  which  raged  for  three  days,  desolating  the  finest  re- 
gions of  the  city.  The  Capitoline  Temple  was  again  destroyed, 
together  with  many  buildings  in  the  Campus  Martius.  A  pesti- 
lence followed  soon  after,  which  ravaged  Rome  and  all  Italy. 

In  A.D.  81  Titus  dedicated  the  Colosseum,  which  was  now  com- 
pleted, and  also  his  famous  baths,  the  ruins  of  which  may  still  be 
visited  at  Rome.  Splendid  games  and  spectacles  were  exhibited 
in  honor  of  these  events.  Few  military  events  occurred  during  this 
reign,  the  empire  being  perfectly  quiet,  except  where  the  active 
Agricola  was  subduing  the  wandering  tribes  of  Scotland. 

At  length  Titus,  having  gone  to  the  Sabine  villa  where  his  fa- 
ther Vespasian  died,  was  himself  suddenly  arrested  by  death.  It 
was  believed  that  his  brother  Domitian  was  the  cause  of  this  un- 
happy event,  and  all  the  people  lamented  their  emperor  as  if  they 
had  lost  a  father  or  a  friend.  Titus  died  September  13,  A.D,  81. 


A.D.  14-96.   FROM  TIBERIUS  TO  DOMITIAN.  305 

REIGN   OF    DOMITIAN,   A.D.  81-96. 

Domitian,  who  was  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  soldiers  upon  his 
brother's  death,  possessed  the  mental  ability  of  the  Flavian  family, 
joined  to  the  vices  and  cruelty  of  the  Claudian.  In  him  Nero  or 
Caligula  seemed  revived.  His  first  political  acts,  however,  were 
often  useful,  and  for  several  years  he  concealed  his  true  disposi- 
tion. But  he  soon  surrounded  himself  with  spies  and  informers, 
iind  put  to  death  the  noblest  men  of  his  time.  To  preserve  the 
fidelity  of  the  soldiers  he  doubled  their  pay,  while  he  won  the  pop- 
ulace by  games  and  donations.  But,  to  maintain  his  expenditure, 
he  confiscated  the  property  of  the  richer  citizens,  and  no  man  of 
wealth  was  safe  from  an  accusation  of  treason. 

Agricola,  who  had  gained  a  great  victory  over  the  Caledonians 
at  the  foot  of  the  Grampian  Hills,  and  who  was  about  to  subdue  all 
Scotland,  Domitian  recalled,  being  jealous  of  his  military  fame  ;  and 
that  brave  leader  passed  the  last  eight  years  of  his  life  in  retire- 
ment at  Rome,  in  order  to  avoid  the  suspicions  of  the  tyrant. 
Meanwhile,  the  Dacians,  led  by  their  king  Decebalus,  having 
crossed  the  Danube,  Domitian  took  the  field  against  them,  and,  in 
A.D.  90,  was  defeated,  and  forced  to  conclude  a  humiliating  peace. 
Yet,  on  his  return  to  Rome,  he  celebrated  a  triumph,  assuming  the 
name  of  Dacicus.  The  next  year  an  insurrection  broke  out  among 
the  German  legions,  which  was,  however,  suppressed. 

Domitian  now  ordered  himself  to  be  styled  the  "  Lord  and  God," 
and  was  worshiped  with  divine  honors.  A  ferocious  jealousy  of 
all  excellence  in  others  seemed  to  possess  him  with  rage  against 
the  wise  and  good.  The  most  eminent  of  the  nobility  were  put  to 
death.  All  philosophers,  and  among  them  the  virtuous  Epictetus, 
were  banished  from  Rome.  The  Christians,  which  name  now  in- 
cluded many  persons  of  high  station,  were  murdered  in  great  num- 
bers. At  last  the  tyrant  resolved  to  put  to  death  his  wife  Domi- 
tia,  but  she  discovered  his  design,  and  had  him  assassinated,  18th 
September,  A.D.  96.  The  Senate  passed  a  decree  that  his  name 
should  be  erased  from  all  public  monuments,  and  refused  to  yield 
to  the  wishes  of  the  soldiers,  who  would  have  proclaimed  him  a  god. 

u 


Copper  Coin  of  Antoninus  I'ius,  about  A.D.  138,  showing  figure  of  Britannia. 
CHAPTER  XLI. 

PROSPERITY    OF   THE    EMPIRE,  A.D.  96. — COMMODUS,  A.D.   180. — • 
EEIGN   OF   M.  COCCEITJS  NERVA,  A.D.  96-98. 

THIS  venerable  man  was  sixty-four  years  old  when  he  was  pro- 
claimed emperor  upon  the  death  of  Domitian.  He  was  a  native 
of  the  town  of  Narnia,  in  Umbria,  and  his  virtues  had  won  him  a 
general  esteem.  The  Praetorians,  who  had  not  been  consulted  in 
his  election,  never  looked  upon  him  with  favor,  and  Nerva  was 
obliged  to  act  with  great  caution.  He  stopped  trials  for  high  trea- 
son, pardoned  political  offenders,  diminished  taxes,  recalled  exiles, 
and  strove  by  every  honest  art  to  attain  popularity.  But  the  Prae- 
torians, becoming  mutinous,  not  only  put  the  murderers  of  Domi- 
tian to  death,  but  forced  the  emperor  to  approve  of  their  act  pub- 
licly. This  insult  was  deeply  felt  by  Nerva,  who  now  resolved  to 
adopt  a  colleague,  in  order  to  increase  his  own  authority.  He 
therefore  selected  M.  Ulpius  Trajan,  a  distinguished  general,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  army  of  Lower  Germany. 

We  now  enter  upon  the  most  pleasing  period  in  the  history  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  During  the  next  eighty  years  a  general  pros- 
perity prevailed.  The  emperors  were  all  men  worthy  to  command, 
and  capable  of  giving  tranquillity  to  their  vast  dominions.  Several 
of  them  were  of  the  purest  morals,  of  high  mental  cultivation,  and 
are  still  looked  upon  as  ornaments  of  the  human  race ;  and  while 
they  could  not  check  the  decline  of  their  people,  these  virtuous  cm' 
perors  prevented,  for  a  time,  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

Nerva,  in  order  to  elevate  the  condition  of  his  people,  purchased 
lands,  which  he  distributed  among  them,  and  he  sought  to  make 
them  feel  the  necessity  of  labor  and  of  self-dependence.  But  it 
was  too  late  to  reform  the  manners  of  the  indolent,  licentious  plebs, 
corrupted  by  the  indulgence  of  their  tyrants.  Nerva  died  of  a  fe- 
ver, January  27,  A.D.  'J8. 


A.U.  98-117.    PROSPERITY  OF  THE  EMPIRE.  307 

M.  ULPIUS   TRAJANUS,  A.D.  98-117. 

Trajan,  the  first  emperor  who  was  not  a  native  of  Italy,  was  born 
at  Italica,  in  Spain,  and  was  about  forty  years  of  age  at  the  death 
of  Nerva.  His  memory  was  so  much  revered  among  the  Romans, 
that,  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  the  Senate  hailed  the  acces- 
sion of  the  new  emperor  with  the  prayer  that  he  might  be  happier 
than  Augustus,  better  than  Trajan.  He  was  free  from  every  vice 
except  an  occasional  indulgence  in  wine.  His  mind  was  natu- 
rally  strong,  his  manners  pleasing,  his  appearance  noble  and  impo- 
sing. He  desired  only  to  restore  the  simple  manners  and  virtuous 
habits  of  an  earlier  age. 

Trajan,  after  his  adoption  by  Nerva,  entered  upon  his  high  office 
at  Cologne,  and  then  traveled  toward  Rome.  In  A.D.  99  he  en- 
tered that  city  on  foot,  followed  by  a  small  retinue,  and  was  re- 
ceived with  general  good  will.  He  abolished  the  trials  for  high 
treason,  judicia  majestatis,  which  had  made  Rome  so  often  a  scene 
of  terror,  restored  freedom  of  speech  to  the  Senate,  revived  the 
Comitia  for  the  election  of  magistrates,  and  bound  himself  by  oath 
to  observe  the  laws.  He  punished  the  principal  informers,  banish- 
ing many  of  them  to  the  barren  islands  around  Italy,  while  he  at 
once,  by  severe  measures,  reduced  the  turbulent  Praetorians  to  obe- 
dience. His  wife  Plotinn,  who  was  a  woman  of  excellent  charac- 
ter, with  her  sister  Marcina,  revived  by  their  virtues  the  dignity  of 
the  Roman  matron.  The  society  of  the  city  was  purified,  and  the 
family  of  the  emperor  offered  an  example  of  propriety  that  pro- 
duced an  excellent  effect  upon  the  manners  of  the  higher  ranks. 

Among  the  first  acts  of  Trajan  was  the  foundation  of  public 
schools  for  the  education  and  maintenance  of  poor  children  in 
various  parts  of  Italy.  He  founded,  too,  the  Ulpian  Library  at 
Rome,  and  adorned  every  part  of  his  empire  with  magnificent  build- 
ings, roads,  bridges,  and  various  useful  improvements.  He  seemed 
to  live,  in  fact,  wholly  for  his  people,  and  passed  his  life  in  devising 
and  executing  plans  for  their  advantage. 

When  Decebalus,  king  of  the  Dacians,  sent  to  demand  the  trib- 
ute which  had  been  promised  him  by  Domitian,  Trajan  refused  to 
be  bound  by  the  disgraceful  treaty,  and,  having  levied  an  army  of 
60,000  men,  marched  against  the  Dacians,  who  had  boldly  ad- 
vanced across  the  Danube.  A  terrible  battle  took  place,  in  which 
the  Romans  Mere  victorious;  but  so  great  was  the  slaughter  that 
sufficient  linen  could  not  be  obtained  to  dress  the  wounds  of  the 
soldiers,  and  Trajan  tore  up  his  imperial  robes  to  supply  their 
wants.  He  took  the  capital  of  the  Dacian  king,  defeated  him  in 
various  encounters,  and  compelled  him  (A.D.  102)  to  make  peace, 


SOS 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


giving  up  a  part  of  his  territory.  Having  re- 
turned to  Rome,  Trajan  received  from  the 
Senate  the  surname  of  Dacicus.  But  in  A.D. 
104  the  Dacians  again  rose  in  arms,  and  the 
Senate  declared  Decebalus  a  public  enemy. 
Trajan  led  an  army  in  person  against  the  bar- 
barians, and,  to  provide  for  an  easy  access  to 
their  territory,  built  a  stone  bridge  across  the 
Danube  of  immense  size  and  strength,  forti- 
fied at  each  end  with  towers.  He  next  ad- 
vanced into  the  midst  of  the  hostile  country, 
took  the  capital  of  the  Dacians,  and  reduced 
them  to  subjection.  Decebalus,  in  despair, 
fell  by  his  own  hand.  All  Dacia,  comprising 
the  modern  countries  of  Moldavia,  Wallachia, 
and  Transylvania,  was  made  a  Roman  prov- 
ince ;  and  several  Roman  colonies  were  plant- 
ed among  the  barbarians,  thus  for  the  first 
time  preparing  for  the  spread  of  civilization 
in  that  savage  country.  Trajan  now  returned 
to  Rome,  to  triumph  a  second  time  for  his  Da- 
cian  successes.  He  also  began  that  famous 
Column  in  commemoration  of  his  victories 
which  still  stands  at  Rome,  and  which  shows 
in  its  rich  sculpture  the  various  captives  and 
spoils  of  the  Dacian  war. 

Arabia  Petraa  was  also  at  this  time  added 
to  the  Roman  Empire,  after  which  a  peace  of 
several  years  succeeded.  In  A.D.  114,  a  Par- 
thian war  breaking  out,  Trajan  hastened  to 
the  East,  and,  having  passed  the  winter  at 
Antioch,  witnessed  a  severe  earthquake,  which 
shook  that  city  as  well  as  all  Syria.  He  him- 
self escaped  with  difficulty  from  a  falling 
house.  In  the  spring,  at  the  head  of  his  le- 
gions, he  overran  Armenia  and  formed  it  into 
a  province.  lie  next  built  a  bridge  across  the 
Tigris,  resembling  that  upon  the  Danube,  and 
led  his  army  into  Assyria,  a  country  never  yet 
visited  by  a  Roman  general.  He  took  Baby- 
lon and  Ctesiphon,  the  capital  of  the  Parthian 
kingdom,  and,  sailing  down  the  Tigris,  passed 
through  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  annexed  a  large 
portion  of  Arabia  Felix  to  his  empire.  The 


A.D.  98-117.    PROSPERITY  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 

Jews,  too,  about  this  time  revolted,  but  were  subdued,  after  a  brave 
resistance,  and  treated  with  great  severity.  His  Eastern  conquests, 
however,  proved  by  no  means  secure,  and  his  new  subjects  revolted 
as  soon  as  his  armies  were  gone.  In  A.D.  117  Trajan  entered  South- 
ern Arabia  to  complete  the  subjection  of  that  country,  when  he 
was  seized  with  a  dropsy  and  forced  to  return  to  Rome.  He  did 
not  reach  that  city,  but  died,  August  9th,  A.I>.  117,  at  Selinus,  in 
Cilicia.  His  ashes  were  carried  to  Rome,  and  placed  under  the 
magnificent  column  which  recorded  his  Dacian  victories. 

During  Trajan's  reign,  the  empire,  already  too  extensive,  was 
made  more  unwieldy  by  his  various  conquests.  He  was  evidently 
ambitious  of  the  fame  of  a  conqueror,  and  possessed  many  of  the 
qualities  of  an  able  general.  He  was  also  a  skillful  ruler  of  his 
immense  dominions,  leaving  fjo  portion  unprotected  by  his  vigi- 
lance. The  only  stain  upon  his  fame  is  his  persecution  of  the 
Christians,  whom  he  centred  to  treat  with  severity  even  when 
convinced  of  their  perfect  'innocence. 

After  the  conclusion  cf  the  Dacian  war  he  celebrated  games  and 
spectacles,  which  ave  said  to  have  lasted  through  four  months,  and 
in  which  ten  thousand  gladiators  fought  and  suffered  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  people — a  proof  that  the  Romans  were  yet,  in  some 
respects,  barbarians.  Trajan,  however,  forbade  the  performance  of 
indecent  pantomimes.  Trajan's  bridge  across  the  Danube  is  de- 
scribed by  Dion  Cassius  as  of  greater  importance  than  any  of  his 
other  works.  He  designed  it  to  form  an  easy  access  to  his  Dacian 
province.  It  was  formed  of  twenty  stone  piers,  distant  about  170 
feet  from  each  other,  and  sixty  feet  wide :  they  were  probably  con- 
nected by  arches  of  wood.  Trajan  also  began  to  make  roads  across 
the  Pontine  Marshes,  and  founded  several  public  libraries.  Pliny 
the  younger,  who  lived  during  this  reign,  was  the  most  eminent 
literary  man  of  the  time,  and  wrote  a  fine  panegyric  upon  his  friend 
the  emperor.  Pliny  saw  the  first  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  in  which 
his  uncle  and  adopted  father,  the  elder  Pliny,  perished.  He  was 
a  person  of  great  wealth  and  uncommon  generosity,  having  given 
300,000  sesterces  yearly  to  maintain  the  children  of  the  poor  in  his 
native  town  of  Comum.  His  letters  to  Trajan  show  that  he  was 
an  excellent  master,  husband,  and  friend,  and  we  may  well  believe 
that  in  this  happy  period  many  Romans  resembled  Trajan  and  his 
learned  correspondent. 

REIGN   OF    HADRIAN,  A.D.  117-138, 

Hadrian,  descended  from  a  family  of  Hadria,  in  Picenum,  was 
a  military  commander,  distinguished  for  his  courage  and  activity. 


310  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLI. 

His  father  had  married  an  aunt  of  the  late  emperor,  who,  upon  the 
father's  death,  was  appointed  one  of  Hadrian's  guardians.  Yet  it 
is  supposed  Trajan  made  no  nomination  of  a  successor  to  the 
throne,  and  that  his  wife  Plotina  forged  the  will  by  which  the 
world  was  made  to  believe  that  he  had  adopted  Hadrian.  This 
will  was,  however,  published,  and  Hadrian  entered  upon  his  govern- 
ment at  Antioch,  August  llth,  A.D.  117,  and  was  there  proclaimed 
emperor.  The  Senate,  to  whom  he  wrote  a  letter  announcing  his 
appointment,  at  once  confirmed  him  in  his  power.  He  now  made 
peace  wiih  the  Parthians,  and  restored  to  Chosroes,  their  king,  As- 
syria and  Mesopotamia.  He  adopted  the  policy  of  Augustus,  refus- 
ing to  extend  the  limits  of  the  empire.  In  A.D.  118  he  returned  to 
Rome,  but  was  soon  forced  to  march  to  the  defense  of  the  province 
of  Muisia,  which  had  been  invaded  by  the  Sarmataj  and  Roxolani. 
His  object  being  merely  to  preserve  the  boundaries  of  the  empire, 
he  concluded  a  peace  with  the  Roxolani,  and  probably  purchased 
their  submission.  He  was  about  to  march  against  the  Sarmataj, 
when  the  news  of  a  conspiracy  at  Rome  was  brought  to  him.  He 
seems  to  have  ordered  the  leaders  to  be  put  to  death,  although  he 
afterward  denied  that  he  had  done  so.  Having  returned  to  Rome, 
he  endeavored  to  win  the  affections  of  the  people  by  donations, 
games,  and  gladiatorial  shows.  He  also  canceled  a  large  amount 
of  unpaid  taxes,  now  due  for  fifteen  years,  and  promised  the  Sena- 
tors never  to  punish  one  of  their  body  without  their  approval.  He 
divided  Italy  into  four  regions,  a  Consular  Magistrate  being  placed 
over  each;  and  he  introduced  a  new  system  of  administration  into 
the  palace,  the  army,  and  the  state,  whicli  lasted  until  the  reign  of 
Constantino  the  Great. 

In  A.D.  Ill)  he  began  a  journey  through  all  the  provinces  of  his 
empire,  in  order  to  examine  into  their  condition,  and  to  discover 
and  amend  any  faults  in  the  system  of  government.  Hadrian,  too, 
was  fond  of  travel,  and  was  never  content  to  remain  long  in  repose. 
A  lar^e  part  of  his  reign  was  occupied  with  this  important  journey. 
He  first  visited  Gaul  and  Germany,  and  thence,  in  A.D.  121,  passed 
over  into  Britain.  Here  he  found  the  Britons  already  partially 
civilized,  but  unable  to  defend  themselves  from  the  incursions  of 
their  neighbors  the  Caledonians.  To  protect  them  from  these  fo- 
rays, he  built  a  wall  across  the  island  from  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne 
to  Solvvay,  remains  of  which  are  still  shown  to  the  traveler.  On 
his  return  he  adorned  the  town  of  Nemausus  (Nismes)  with  fine 
buildings,  and  then  went  into  Spain,  where  he  passed  the  winter. 
He  returned  to  Rome  A.D.  122,  but  soon  after  went  to  Athens, 
where  he  spent  three  years.  During  his  residence  in  that  city  he 
began  many  magnificent  buildings,  and  he  seems  to  have  looked 


A.B.  131.        PROSPERITY  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 


311 


upon  Athens  with  singular  affection  and  reverence.  He  visited 
Sicily,  returned  to  Rome,  set  out  for  Africa,  whence,  after  a  brief 
visit,  he  once  more  visited  Athens,  to  view  the  completion  of  his 
architectural  designs.  He  finished  the  Temple  of  the  Olympian 
Jupiter,  the  largest  and  most  magnificent  in  the  world,  which  had 
been  commenced  by  Pisistratus,  and  left  many  other  fine  works 
behind  him.  Then  he  passed  through  Asia,  inspecting  the  con- 
duct of  the  provincial  officers,  and  next  traveled  through  Syria 
into  Egypt,  where  his  favorite  Antinous,  a  beautiful  youth,  was 
drowned.  This  event  seems  to  have  filled  him  with  a  lasting  grief. 
At  length,  in  A.D.  131,  he  returned  to  Rome. 


Mole  of  Hadrian  restored.1 


Here  he  published  the  Edlctum  Perpetuum,  a  codification  of  the 
edicts  of  the  Roman  Praetors,  which  was  composed  by  Salvius  Ju- 
lianus,  an  eminent  lawyer.  The  design  of  this  work  was  to  con- 
dense the  vast  body  of  the  law  into  a  convenient  form. 

A  revolt  broke  out  among  the  Jews,  Hadrian  having  estab- 
lished a  colony  called  .iElia  Capitolina  on  the  site  of  Jerusalem, 
and,  not  content  with  introducing  pagan  worship  into  the  holy  city, 
had  even  issued  an  edict  forbidding  the  practice  of  circumcision. 
1  This  mausoleum,  begun  by  Hadrian,  is  now  the  Castle  of  St.  Angela 


312  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLI 

These  imprudent  measures  produced  a  revolt  among  the  Jews, 
who,  under  their  leader  Barcochab,  fought  with  their  usual  courage 
and  desperation.  The  war  continued  for  several  years,  during 
which  more  than  half  a  million  of  Jews  are  said  to  have  perished. 
At  length  Julius  Severus  came  from  Britain  to  lead  the  Roman  ar- 
mies, and  the  rebellion  was  suppressed.  The  Jews  were  now  for- 
bidden to  live  in  Jerusalem  or  its  neighborhood,  and  the  nation  was 
scattered  over  the  habitable  world. 

A  war  which  seemed  about  to  break  out  with  the  Albanians  and 
Iberians  in  the  East  was  prevented  by  Hadrian,  who,  with  his  usual 
policy,  sent  large  presents  to  his  enemies,  and  thus  converted  them 
into  friends.  He  now  returned  from  his  travels  to  Rome,  where 
he  built  his  magnificent  villa  at  Tibur,  the  extensive  ruins  of  which 
may  still  be  seen  ;  and  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  either  at 
Tibur  or  in  Rome.  His  health  had  been  affected  by  his  incessant 
labors,  and  in  A.D.  135  he  was  seized  with  dropsy.  Having  no  chil- 
dren, he  adopted  L.  Ceionius,  under  the  name  of  L.  ^Elius  Verus,  a 
young  noble,  who,  however,  died  on  the  first  day  of  the  year  A.D. 
138.  Hadrian  then  adopted  Arrius  Antoninus  (afterward  the  Em- 
peror Antoninus  Pius),  and  presented  him  as  his  successor  to  the 
Senators  assembled  around  his  bed.  At  the  same  time  he  obliged 
him  to  adopt  L.  Commodus  Verus,  the  son  of  the  former  Verus, 
and  also  M.  Annius  Verus,  the  future  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius- 
111  health  seems  now  to  have  fatally  affected  the  mind  and  dispo- 
sition of  Hadrian.  He  became  morose  and  cruel.  H^  put  many 
eminent  nobles  to  death,  and  is  said  to  have  sunk  into  debauchery 
at  his  Tiburtine  villa.  His  disease  proving  incurable,  lie  several 
times  attempted  suicide ;  but  having  removed  to  Baize,  hoping  for 
some  relief  in  that  fine  climate,  he  died  there  July  10th,  A.D.  138, 
aged  sixty-three.  He  was  buried  in  the  villa  of  Cicero,  near  Pute- 
oli.  When  the  Senate,  enraged  at  his  cruelties  in  the  latter  part  of 
his  life,  wished  to  annul  his  acts,  and  would  have  refused  him  divine 
honors,  Antoninus  interposed,  and  excused  his  adopted  father  on 
the  plea  that  ill  health  had  disordered  his  mind.  For  this  filial 
conduct  he  received  the  name  of  Pius.  The  Senate  not  only  num- 
bered Hadrian  among  the  deities,  but  ordered  temples  to  be  erected 
in  his  honor.  He  left  the  empire  prosperous  nnd  at  peace.  Dur- 
ing his  reign  the  Senate  lost  its  importance  in  the  administration 
of  affairs,  since  Hadrian  supplied  its  place  by  a  Consistorium  Prin- 
cipis,  or  council,  composed  of  eminent  men,  presided  over  by  a  dis- 
tinguished lawyer.  Hadrian  was  fond  of  letters  and  the  arts,  and 
adorned  every  part  of  his  empire  with  fine  buildings  or  useful 
works.  Wherever  he  traveled  lie  did  something  for  the  benefit  of 
his  subjects. 


A.I).  138  -161.    PROSPERITY  OF  THE  EMPIRE  313 


Reverse  of  a  brass  (Join  of  Antoninus  Pius. 
REIGN   OP   ANTONINUS    PIUS,  A.D.  138-161. 

This  excellent  man  was  born  at  Lanuvium,  September  19th, 
A.D.  86,  but  liis  family  came  from  the  town  of  Nemausis  (Nismes), 
in  Gaul.  Soon  after  his  accession  to  the  empire  he  married  his 
daughter  Faustina  to  Marcus  Aurelius,  procured  for  him  the  tribu- 
nitiau  and  proconsular  power  from  the  Senate,  and  made  him  his 
associate  in  the  labors  of  the  government.  His  tranquil  and  pros- 
perous reign  is  the  most  pleasing  period  in  the  history  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire.  The  world  enjoyed  a  general  peace,  and  the  emperor 
endeavored,  by  every  wise  measure,  to  secure  the  prosperity  of  his 
subjects.  Like  Numa,  to  whom  he  has  often  been  compared,  An- 
toninus was  the  peacemaker  between  distant  nations,  who  were  ac- 
customed to  submit  their  differences  to  him,  and  to  abide  implicitly 
by  his  award.  He  checked  the  persecutions  to  which  the  Chris- 
tians had  been  exposed  in  former  reigns,  and  to  him  Justin  Martyr 
addressed  his  apology  for  Christianity.  He  watched  carefully  the 
conduct  of  the  provincial  governors,  and  applied  the  public  reve- 
nues to  founding  schools,  repairing  roads  and  harbors,  and  encour- 
aging every  where  industry  and  trade.  When  Asia  and  Rhodes 
were  devastated  by  an  earthquake,  Antoninus  expended  large  sums 
in  relieving  the  sufferers  by  that  calamity,  as  well  as  those  who 
were  reduced  to  indigence  by  the  great  fires  which  nearly  destroyed 
Carthage,  Narbonne,  and  Antioch,  in  A.D.  153.  lie  appointed 
teachers  of  rhetoric  in  various  cities  of  the  empire,  conferred  hon- 
ors and  emoluments  upon  men  of  letters,  and  in  A.D.  141  founded 
a  charity-school  for  orphan  girls,  whom  he  styled  Puelln.  AJintentn- 


314  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLI. 

rite  P^austiniancr,  in  memory  of  his  wife  Faustina,  who  had  died  the 
year  before.  Faustina,  however,  does  not  seem  to  have  merited  his 
esteem,  and  the  emperor  was  well  acquainted  with  her  faults ;  yet 
he  generously  overlooked  them  while  she  lived,  and  upon  her  death 
paid  unusual  honors  to  her  memory.  His  piety,  his  devotion  to  the 
national  religion,  and  his  various  virtues,  seem  to  have  won  fof 
him  universal  love  and  veneration,  and  his  successors  during  the 
next  century  assumed  the  name  of  Antoninus  as  their  worthiest 
title. 

Antoninus  made  no  attempt  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  the  em- 
pire. The  barbarous  races  who  were  now  beginning  to  swarm 
upon  the  frontiers,  the  Germans  and  the  Dacians,  were  held  in 
check ;  and  although  the  Brigantes  made  several  inroads  into  Brit- 
ain, they  were  defeated  by  A.  Lollius,  the  Legate,  in  A.D.  141 ;  and 
a  wall  of  turf  was  raised  beyond  the  former  wall  built  by  Agricola 
to  check  the  incursions  of  the  Caledonians.  This  peaceful  reign, 
however,  seems  to  have  increased  the  general  indolence  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  martial  spirit  of  the  Roman  soldiers  declined  in  the 
idleness  of  their  stationary  camps.  After  a  reign  of  twenty-three 
years,  Antoninus  died,  March  7th,  A.D.  161,  in  his  villa  at  Lorium, 
aged  seventy-five  years. 

REIGN    OF   MAKCUS   AURELIU8   ANTONINUS,  A.D.  16 1-180. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Aurelius,  who  was  born  at  Rome  A.D.  121. 
This  prince  is  known  as  the  Philosopher ;  and  the  wish  of  Plato 
that  philosophers  might  be  kings,  or  kings  philosophers,  seems  to 
have  been  fulfilled  at  his  accession.  Aurelius  had  been  from  his 
youth  a  lover  of  truth.  His  morals  and  his  intellect  were  trained 
by  the  purest  and  wisest  men  of  his  age.  He  had  studied  under 
Herodes  Attieus  and  Cornelius  Fronto,  two  famous  rhetoricians, 
and  also  under  the  Stoic  philosophers  Junius  Rusticus  and  Apol- 
lonius  ;  and  he  had  been  constantly  employed  by  his  adopted  fa- 
ther Antoninus  as  an  associate  in  all  his  useful  and  benevolent  de- 
signs. His  health  was,  however,  delicate,  and  he  now  admitted  to 
a  share  in  the  empire  his  adopted  brother,  L.Verus,  who  possessed 
a  vigorous  constitution,  but  was  addicted  ro  licentious  pleasures. 

The  general  peace  which  had  prevailed  during  the  reign  of  Mar- 
cus Antoninus  was  forever  passed  away,  and  the  world  was  in  fu- 
ture to  be  desolated  by  almost  perpetual  hostilities.  The  Parthian 
king  Vologeses  III.  having  invaded  the  eastern  provinces,  and  cut 
to  pieces  a  Roman  legion,  L.  Verus  was  sent  to  oppose  his  advance ; 
but  upon  arriving  at  Antioch,  Verus  remained  there,  plunged  in 
dissipation,  while  his  brave  lieutenant  Avidius  Cassius  drove  back 


A.D.  161-180.    PROSPERITY  OF  THE  EMPIRE.  315 

the  Parthians,  invaded  Mesopotamia,  destroyed  Seleucia.  and  pen- 
etrated to  Babylon.  Another  Roman  general  conquered  Armenia, 
and  restored  the  legitimate  king  Soasmus  to  his  throne.  At  the 
close  of  the  war,  Verus,  A.I>.  166,  returned  to  Rome,  and  triumphed. 
His  army  brought  the  plague  with  it  from  the  East,  which  now 
desolated  Italy  and  Rome.  Many  illustrious  men  died  ;  but  the  fa- 
mous physician  Galen  (Claudius  Galenus),  who  had  come  from  Per- 
gainus  to  Rome,  was  now  enabled  to  exhibit  his  uncommon  pro- 
fessional skill.  This  pestilence  lasted  for  several  years. 

Verus  died  of  intemperance  A.D.  171,  and  Aurelius  prevailed 
upon  the  Senate  to  rank  him  among  the  gods.  He  now  marched 
against  the  Marcomanni,  but  was  defeated  in  a  great  battle,  and, 
in  order  to  provide  a  new  army,  sold  the  imperial  plate  and  jewels. 
He  now  took  up  a  position  at  Sirmium  (Sirmich),  and  endeavored 
to  wear  out  the  barbarians  by  skirmishes  and  sudden  attacks,  with- 
out venturing  far  from  his  strong-hold.  At  length,  however,  upon 
one  occasion,  having  been  drawn  •  into  a  defile,  the  Roman  army 
was  relieved  by  a  fierce  storm  of  thunder  and  rain,  which  terrified 
the  barbarians.  Tradition  attributes  this  sudden  storm  to  the 
prayers  of  a  Christian  legion.  The  barbarians  now  submitted,  and 
withdrew  beyond  the  Danube. 

Soon  after,  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  Syria,  where  Avidius 
Cassius,  at  the  instigation,  it  is  said,  of  the  emperor's  wife  Faustina, 
had  proclaimed  himself  emperor.  But  Cassius,  by  his  severity,  dis- 
gusted his  own  soldiers,  and  was  assassinated  by  a  centurion. 
Aurelius  lamented  this  event,  since  it  deprived  him  of  an  oppor- 
tunity of  showing  clemency  to  an  erring  friend.  He  at  once  set 
out  for  the  East,  and  there  freely  forgave  all  those  who  had  con- 
spired against  him.  He  took  the  young  family  of  Cassius  under 
his  protection,  and  ordered  the  papers  of  that  officer  to  be  destroy- 
ed, lest  they  might  disclose  the  names  of  the  conspirators.  Fausti- 
na, who  had  accompanied  her  husband  to  Cilicia,  died  soon  after, 
it  is  said,  by  her  own  hand. 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  philosophic  emperor  should  have  per- 
mitted a  cruel  persecution  of  the  Christians  in  A.D.  177,  perhaps 
at  the  instigation  of  the  Stoic  philosophers — the  only  blot  upon  his 
general  humanity  and  benevolence.  Among  the  victims  of  this 
persecution  was  Justin  Martyr,  the  author  of  the  Apologies  for 
Christianity,  addressed  to  Antoninus,  as  well  as  to  Aurelius  him- 
self. Toward  the  close  of  his  reign,  having  become  convinced  of 
the  falseness  of  the  charges  made  against  the  Christians,  Aurelius 
became  once  more  tolerant  and  philosophic. 

In  A.I>.  176  the  emperor  triumphed  at  Rome  for  his  various  suc- 
cesses. He  gave  a  donation  of  eight  pieces  of  gold  to  every  citi. 


313  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLI. 

z^n,  and  made  his  son  Commodus  his  colleague.  In  the  mean  time 
the  barbarians  in  the  interior  of  Europe,  moved  by  a  general  im- 
pulse, began  to  press  upon  the  frontiers  of  the  empire,  and  from 
thii  time  seem  never  to  have  ceased  their  inroads  until  the  final 
destruction  of  the  Roman  power.  Aurelius  marched,  A.D.  177,  to 
the  frontier,  defeated  the  barbarians  in  various  engagements,  and 
had  perhaps  proved  the  savior  and  second  founder  of  Rome,  when 
he  was  seized  with  a  fever  at  Vindobona  (Vienna),  A.D.  180,  and 
died  after  a  few  days'  illness.  He  was  the  last  of  the  Roman  em- 
perors who  labored  for  the  welfare  of  his  people.  He  was,  no 
doubt,  the  greatest  and  wisest  of  them  all,  and  he  united  the  differ- 
ent  talents  of  a  man  of  learning,  a  fine  writer,  a  skillful  soldier, 
and  a  benevolent,  judicious  ruler.  His  "  Meditations,"  which  have 
made  him  known  to  posterity,  are  among  the  most  delightful  pro- 
ductions of  the  human  intellect,  while  his  private  character  seems 
to  have  been  no  less  attractive  than  his  writings. 

REIGN   OF   M.  COMMODUS   ANTONINUS,  A.D.    180-192. 

The  depraved  Commodus  succeeded  his  virtuous  father  at  the 
age  of  twenty.  He  had  been  educated  with  singular  care,  but  was 
wholly  given  up  to  coarse  sensuality.  The  people,  however,  still 
hoped  that  he  might  be  worthy  of  his  father,  and  received  him, 
upon  his  accession,  with  loud  expressions  of  joy.  For  a  short  time 
he  concealed  his  true  disposition,;  but  his  sister  Lucilla,  jealous  of 
her  brother's  wife  Crispina,  formed  a  conspiracy  against  him  in 
A.D.  182,  and  he  escaped  with  difficulty  from  the  hand  of  the  as- 
sassin. From  this  moment  he  threw  off  all  disguise,  and  indulged 
his  natural  vices  without  restraint.  He  put  to  death  the  most  il- 
lustrious men  of  the  time,  encouraged  informers  and  false  accusa- 
tions, and  filled  Rome  with  terror.  In  the  midst  of  these  cruelties 
he  often  sang,  danced,  or  played  the  buffoon  in  public,  fought  as  a 
gladiator  in  the  circus,  and  ordered  the  people  to  worship  him  as  a 
second  Hercules.  His  lieutenant  Marcellus,  in  A.D.  184,  defeated 
the  Caledonians,  after  they  had  passed  the  long  wall  of  Hadrian, 
and  had  ravaged  the  northern  part  of  Britain  ;  and  in  A.D.  191  an 
invasion  of  the  Frisians  was  repelled.  Commodus,  however,  paid, 
no  attention  to  the  affairs  of  the  empire.  In  A.D.  189  Italy  suffer- 
ed from  a  pestilence  and  famine,  when  the  people  of  Rome  rose 
against  the  emperor's  prsefect,  Cleander,  and  tore  him  to  pieces 
Commodus  still  continued  his  murders,  and  was  at  last  assassinated 
by  the  directions  of  hi-  mistress,  Marcia,  whose  death  he  had  re- 
solved upon.  He  d.od  December  31st,  A.D.  192.  The  Senate  or- 
dered his  memory  to  be  held  infamous,  and  his  body  to  be  dragged 


A.D.  i:i2.        PROSPERITY  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 


317 


by  iron  hooks  through  the  streets,  and  then  to  be  thrown  into  the 
Tiber ;  but  his  successor  Pertinax  prevailed  that  it  should  be  placed 
in  the  mausoleum  of  Hadrian.  Such,  was  the  son  of  Marcus  An- 
relius. 


Commodus. 


Pertinax. 
CHAPTER   XL1I. 

FROM   PERTINAX   TO   DIOCLETIAN.       A.D.  192-284. 

PERTINAX,  an  aged  senator  of  consular  rank,  and  now  Prsefect 
of  the  city,  was  summoned  by  the  conspirators,  who  came  to  his 
house  late  at  night,  after  the  murder  of  Commodus,  to  ascend  the 
vacant  throne.  He  was  one  of  the  few  friends  and  ministers  of 
Marcus  Aurelius  who  yet  survived,  and.  having  filled  many  im- 
portant offices,  had  always  been  distinguished  for  firmness,  pru- 
dence, and  integrity.  The  rumor  was  spread  that  Commodus  had 
died  of  apoplexy,  and  that  Pertinax  had  succeeded  him ;  but  the 
Praetorian  Guards  were  dissatisfied  at  his  election.  The  Senate, 
however,  confirmed  the  choice  of  the  conspirators,  and  Pertinax 
lived  among  his  own  order  rather  as  an  equal  than  a  master.  His 
manners  were  simple,  his  mode  of  life  frugal,  and  he  sought  to  re- 
vive the  pleasing  simplicity  of  the  early  Republic. 

Pertinax  administered  justice  with  strictness,  released  those  who 
had  been  left  in  prison  by  Commodus,  reformed  the  finances  and 
introduced  economy,  redivided  the  uncultivated  lands  among  those 
who  would  till  them,  removed  oppressive  restrictions  upon  trade, 
and  deserved  the  respect  of  the  wiser  portion  of  his  subjects. 

But  the  Praetorians  were  never  reconciled  to  his  rule,  and  on  the 
28th  of  March,  A.D.  193,  eighty-six  days  after  his  election,  they 


A. D.I 92-284.   PERTINAX  TO  DIOCLETIAN. 


319 


broke  into  the  imperial  palace,  and  struck  down  the  emperor  with 
innumerable  blows.  His  head  was  separated  from  his  body,  and, 
being  placed  upon  a  lance,  was  carried  in  triumph  to  the  Praeto- 
rian camp,  while  the  people  silently  lamented  the  death  of  this  vir- 
tuous ruler. 

The  soldiers,  meanwhile,  proclaimed  from  the  ramparts  of  their 
camp  that  the  throne  of  the  world  would  be  sold  at  auction  to  the 
highest  bidder.  Didius  Julianus,  a  wealthy  Senator,  whose  age 
had  not  quenched  his  vanity  and  ambition,  offered  about  a  thou- 
sand dollars  to  each  man  for  the  possession  of  the  prize.  He  was 
declared  emperor,  and,  surrounded  by  the  armed  Pratorians,  was 
carried  to  the  Senate,  who  were  forced  to  accept  the  selection  of 
the  soldiers.  But  the  Senators  and  the  people  felt  deeply  the  dis- 
grace of  their  country,  and  even  the  Praetorians  were  ashamed  of 
their  unworthy  choice.  Julianus  found  himself  on  the  throne  of 
the  world  without  a  friend. 

The  armies  in  the  provinces,  when  they  heard  of  these  transac- 
tions at  the  capital,  rose  in  revolt,  and  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
authority  of  Julian.  Clodius  Albinus  commanded  the  legions  in 
Britain,  Septimius  Severus  those  in  Pannonia,  and  Pescennius  Ni- 


Septimius  Severus. 


ger  the  army  of  the  East.  Severus,  more  active  than  his  competi- 
tors, was  saluted  by  his  soldiers  as  emperor,  and  marched  rapidly 
toward  Rome.  Julian,  deserted  by  the  Praetorians,  was  condemned 
to  death  by  the  Senate,  and  was  executed  as  a  common  criminal 


820  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CRAP.  XLU 

after  a  reign  of  only  sixty-six  days.  Severus  was  acknowledged 
as  their  lawful  emperor  by  the  Senate,  June  2,  A.D.  193,  and  his 
first  act  was  to  disarm  the  Praetorian  Guards  and  banish  them  from 
the  capital. 

He  next  marched  against  Niger,  and  defeated  him  in  two  bat. 
ties,  while  he  was  also  successful  in  a  severe  contest  with  Clodius 
Albinus  at  Lyons.  Both  of  his  competitors  were  put  to  death,  and 
Severus,  now  set  free  from  fear  of  rivalry,  began  to  show  the  native 
cruelty  of  his  disposition.  Forty-one  Senators,  whom  he  accused 
of  having  favored  Albinu?,  were  executed,  with  their  wives  and 
children ;  and  many  of  the  provincial  nobles  of  Spain  and  Gaul 
shared  their  fate.  Yet  Severus  was  in  many  respects  a  useful 
ruler ;  strict  in  the  administration  of  the  laws,  careful  to  correct 
abuses,  and  restraining  his  subjects  with  stern  impartiality.  Peace 
returned  to  the  provinces,  cities  were  repeopled,  roads  repaired, 
Rome  abounded  in  provisions,  and  the  people  were  satisfied.  Sev- 
erus changed  the  constitution  of  the  Pratorian  Guards,  and  filled 
up  their  ranks  with  the  bravest  soldiers  of  the  legions  of  the  frontier. 
These  barbarians,  he  thought,  would  be  able  to  suppress  any  rebel- 
lion  that  might  arise ;  and  he  increased  the  number  to  fifty  thou- 
sand men.  The  Praefect  of  the  Praetorians,  who  had  at  first  been 
a  simple  soldier,  now  became  the  chief  minister  of  the  emperor, 
and  was  at  the  head  of  the  finances  and  even  of  the  law.  The 
celebrated  lawyer  Papinian  was  appointed  Prefect  after  the  fall  of 
Plautianus  ;  and  several  great  jurisconsults,  particularly  Paulus 
and  Ulpian,  flourished  under  the  reign  of  Severus  or  his  family. 

Severus,  however,  was  a  military  despot,  and,  despising  the  fee- 
ble Senate,  assumed  both  the  legislative  and  the  executive  power. 
The  jurisconsults,  in  fact,  from  this  reign,  begin  to  treat  the  em- 
peror as  the  source  of  all  law,  the  Senate  and  the  people  being  no 
longer  considered  in  the  state.  But  this  arbitrary  rule,  introduced 
by  Severus,  is  thought  to  have  tended  more  than  any  thing  else  to 
destroy  the  vigor  of  the  Roman  Empire,  by  leading  the  people  to 
an  abject  dependence  upon  their  rulers. 

The  wife  of  Severus,  Julia  Domna,  a  Syrian  lady  of  great  beauty 
and  various  accomplishments,  became  the  mother  of  two  sons,  Car- 
acalla  and  Geta,  and  the  emperor  hoped  that  they  would  prove 
worthy  of  the  high  office  to  which  they  were  born.  They  soon, 
however,  showed  themselves  incapable  of  any  serious  study  or  em- 
ployment, and  were  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  hatred  they  bore  to- 
ward each  other.  The  court  was  already  divided  into  two  factions, 
composed  of  the  adherents  of  either  son  ;  and  the  emperor,  who  in 
vain  strove  to  remove  their  rivalry,  foresaw  that  one  must  fall  u 
victim  to  the  hatred  of  the  other. 


A.D.  l'J2-284.  PERTINAX  TO  DIOCLETIAN.  ;wi 

In  A.D.  208  a  war  broke  out  in  Britain,  and  Severus,  although 
now  more  than  sixty  years  of  age,  and  afflicted  with  the  gout,  so 
that  he  was  carried  on  a  litter,  set  out  at  the  head  of  his  army,  at- 
tended by  his  two  sons,  and  penetrated  into  the  interior  of  Scot- 
land. This  was  his  last  enterprise,  for  he  died  at  York,  February 
4,  A.D.  211.  He  left  his  empire  to  his  two  sons,  who  returned  to 
Rome,  and  were  acknowledged  by  the  Senate  and  the  army. 


Caracalla. 

Their  discord,  however,  still  continued,  and  they  planned  a  divi- 
sion of  the  empire,  a  measure  which  was  then  distasteful  to  all  the 
Romans,  and  which  was  only  prevented  from  taking  place  by  the 
tears  and  entreaties  of  their  mother,  Julia  Domna.  Geta,  the 
younger  son,  who  was  of  a  gentle  disposition,  soon  after,  in  A.D.  212, 
February  27th,  was  murdered  by  the  cruel  and  relentless  Caracalla. 
Twenty  thousand  of  his  friends  are  said  to  have  been  put  to  death 
at  the  same  time,  and  his  unhappy  mother,  Julia  Domna,  was 
forced  to  receive  her  guilty  son  with  feigned  smiles  and  words  of 
approbation.  Remorse,  however,  fastened  upon  Caracalla,  and  the 
shade  of  Geta  haunted  him  wherever  he  went.  His  cruelties  now 
redoubled.  He  put  to  death  Papinian,  the  PraBtorian  Praefect,  the 
splendid  ornament  of  the  Roman  bar  ;  and  his  massacres  filled  ev- 
ery part  of  the  empire  with  mourning  and  terror.  In  A.D.  213  he 
left  the  city  of  Rome,  and  never  returned  thither  again ;  the  rest 
of  his  reign  was  passed  in  the  provinces,  and  wherever  he  came  he 
indulged  himself  in  endless  murders,  confiscations,  and  acts  of  vio- 
lence. "He  was,"  says  Gibbon,  "the  common  enemy  of  man- 
kind." He  directed  a  general  massacre  of  the  people  of  Alexari- 

X 


822  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLIL 

dria,  who  had  lampooned  him,  and  viewed  the  scene  from  a  secure 
post  in  the  Temple  of  Serapis.  To  retain  the  affections  of  his 
army,  he  lavished  upon  them,  immense  sums,  the  plunder  of  his 
empire ;  and  he  was  at  length  assassinated,  March  8,  A.D.  217,  at 
the  instigation  of  Macrinus,  one  of  the  Praetorian  Prefects,  who 
had  discovered  that  the  tyrant  had  planned  his  own  death. 

Macrinus,  Prefect  of  the  Pra:torian  Guard,  was  elected  emperor 
March  11,  A.D.  217,  and  the  Senate  and  the  provinces  submitted 
without  a  murmur.  But  the  new  emperor  was  disliked  by  the  no- 
bles on  account  of  his  humble  origin,  and  soon  offended  his  army 
by  endeavoring  to  reform  their  discipline.  The  Empress  Julia 
now  withdrew  by  a  voluntary  death  from  the  sorrow  which  sur- 
rounded her,  and  the  family  of  Severus  became  extinct.  A  rebel- 
lion broke  out  in  the  Syrian  army,  who  proclaimed  Bassianus,  the 
grandson  of  Julia  Maesa,  sister  of  the  late  empress,  and  who  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Antoninus.  He  pretended  that  he  was  the 
natural  son  of  Caracalla.  A  battle  took  place,  in  which  Macrinus 
was  defeated,  and  soon  after  put  to  death  ;  and  Elagabalus,  for  that 
is  the  name  under  which  this  monster  is  commonly  known,  ascend- 
ed the  throne. 

He  at  once  plunged  into  every  vice.  The  sun  was  worshiped  at 
Emessa  under  the  name  of  Elagabalus,  from  whence  the  new  em- 
peror derived  his  surname,  having  been  a  priest  in  the  temple ; 
and  he  now  introduced  the  lascivious  rites  of  the  Syrian  deity  into 
tho  capital  of  the  world.  A  magnificent  temple  of  the  god  Ela- 
gabalus was  raised  on  the  Palatine  Mount,  and  the  grave  and  dig- 
nified nobles  of  Rome  were  forced  to  take  part  in  the  ceremonies, 
clothed  in  long  Phoenician  tunics. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  vices  of  this  wretched  be- 
ing, who  seems  to  have  sunk  to  the  very  extreme  of  depravity.  His 
cousin,  however,  Alexander  Severus,  as  if  to  show  that  human  na- 
ture had  not  wholly  declined,  was  amiable,  virtuous,  and  learned. 
Elagabalus  was  murdered  by  the  Prajtorians  March  10,  A.D.  222, 
and  Alexander  placed  upon  the  throne. 

Alexander  Severus  seems  to  have  inclined  toward  the  Christian 
faith,  which  was  now  very  widely  extended  throughout  the  empire. 
He  revoked  all  former  edicts  against  the  Christians,  and  ordered 
the  words  "Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  them  do  to  you"  to 
be  inscribed  upon  his  palaces  and  other  buildings.  The  Persian 
Empire  was  now  arising  in  new  strength  under  the  house  of  the 
Sassanides,  and  a  war  having  broken  out  with  them,  Alexander 
marched  against  the  Persians,  and  gained  a  considerable  victory. 
He  returned  to  Rome  in  triumph,  and  entered  the  city  in  a  chariot 
drawn  by  four  elephants.  Soon  after,  the  Germans  having  invaded 


A.D.  192-284.   PEKTINAX  TO  DIOCLETIAN.  323 

Gaul,  he  led  his  army  to  the  defense  of  the  frontier ;  bur,  while  at- 
tempting  to  reform  the  discipline  of  the  Gallic  legions,  he  was  as- 
sassinated by  a  band  of  discontented  soldiers,  and  Maximin,  a 
Thracian  peasant  of  great  personal  strength,  who  had  risen  to  a 
high  command  in  the  army,  was  raised  to  the  throne. 


Alexander  Severus. 

Maximin,  A.D.  235,  began  his  reign  by  massacring  many  of  the 
friends  of  the  late  emperor,  and  even  all  those  who  showed  any 
regret  for  his  death.  He  was  a  fierce,  ignorant  barbarian,  but  was 
very  successful  in  his  wars  against  the  Germans,  having  ravaged 
their  country,  and  sent  great  numbers  of  them  to  be  sold  as  slaves 
in  Italy.  He  also  defeated  the  Dacians  and  Sarmatians.  But  his 
severities  produced  a  revolt  in  Africa,  where  the  legions  proclaimed 
their  proconsul  Gordian  emperor,  then  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his 
age.  The  Senate  now  revolted  against  Maximin,  and  ordered  all 
his  fiiends  in  Home  to  be  put  to  death.  Maximin  now  made  peace 
with  the  barbarians,  and  marched  toward  Italy,  while,  in  the  mean 
time,  Gordian  and  his  son  were  defeated  and  slain  in  Africa.  The 
Senate  immediately  elected  Papianus  and  Balbinus  emperors,  to 
whom,  in  order  to  gratify  the  people,  they  joined  the  younger  Gor- 
dian, then  only  twelve  years  of  age.  Maximin  entered  Italy  and 
besieged  Aqnileia,  but  his  soldiers,  weary  of  the  length  of  the  siege, 
put  him  to  death,  A.D.  238.  The  Goths  on  the  Danube  and  the 
Persians  in  the  East  now  assailed  the  empire,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  Pratorian  Guards  murdered  his  two  associates,  leaving 
Gordian  sole  emperor  of  Rome.  Gordian  was  married  to  the 
daughter  of  Misithcus,  Prefect  of  the  Praetorians,  an  excellent  min- 
ister and  commander.  Together  they  marched  to  the  East,  and 


ai'4  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLIL 

defeated  the  Persians  under  their  king  Sapor,  in  various  engage, 
ments.  Misitheus  now  died,  and  Gordian  appointed  the  Arab 
Philip  his  prime  minister.  Sapor  was  again  defeated ;  but  the 
Arab  conspired  against  Gordian,  his  benefactor,  who  -.vas  assassina- 
ted in  A.D.  244. 

Philip,  having  made  peace  with  the  Persians,  returned  to  Rome, 
where  he  won  the  favor  of  the  people  by  his  mild  conduct.  In  his 
reign  the  secular  games  were  celebrated,  it  being  reckoned  one 
thousand  years  since  the  foundation  of  the  city.  Philip  ruled  with 
mildness,  and  was  an  enemy  to  persecution.  In  A.D.  249,  how- 
ever, the  Illyrian  army  revolted,  and  proclaimed  their  commander, 
Trajanus  Decius,  emperor,  who  defeated  Philip  near  Verona,  and 
put  him  to  death.  His  son,  who  had  remained  at  Rome,  was  slain 
by  the  Praetorian  Guards. 

In  A.D.  250  the  Goths  invaded  the  empire.  These  fierce  bar- 
barians came  from  the  north  of  Europe,  and  were  among  the  chief 
instruments  of  the  fall  of  Rome.  Decius,  who  does  not  seem  to 
have  wanted  skill  and  courage,  was  finally  defeated  and  slain  by 
them,  together  with  his  son.  Decius  is  remembered  as  one  of  the 
most  cruel  persecutors  of  the  Christians.  The  innocent  victims 
of  his  rage  were  subjected  to  torture,  driven  to  hide  in  the  wilder- 
ness among  rocks  and  forests,  and  were  glad  to  live  among  the 
wild  beasts,  more  humane  than  man.  The  Bishop  of  Rome,  Fa- 
bian, the  bishops  of  Antioch  and  Alexandria,  and  many  more  em- 
inent in  the  Church,  suffered  from  the  unrelenting  severity  of  this 
persecutor. 

A  son  of  Decius,  Hostilianus,  together  with  G;illus,  an  experi- 
enced soldier,  were  now  made  emperors.  They  concluded  a  dis- 
graceful, but  probably  necessary  peace  with  the  Goths.  But  Hos- 
tilianus soon  after  died,  and  Gallus  was  defeated  and  slain  by 
JEmilianus,  who  was  himself  assassinated,  and  Valerian,  the  Censor, 
in  A.D.  253,  was  made  emperor.  A  very  high  character  is  given 
of  this  ruler,  whose  reign,  however,  was  rilled  with  disasters.  Hav- 
ing joined  his  son  Gallicnus  with  him,  Valerian  vainly  sought  to 
repel  the  attacks  of  innumerable  enemies  on  every  side  of  the  em«- 
pire — the  Goths,  the  Franks,  the  Scythians,  and  the  Persians.  In 
a  campaign  against  the  latter  Valerian  was  taken  prisoner,  and  for 
nine  years  languished  in  captivity,  his  unnatural  son  making  no 
effort  for  his  liberation. 

The  Allemanni,  meanwhile,  had  entered  Italy,  ravaged  its  north- 
ern territory,  and  even  threatened  Rome.  They  withdrew,  loaded 
with  plunder.  To  gain  allies  among  the  barbarians,  Gallienus 
now  married  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  Marcomanni.  Every 
part  of  the  empire  seems  now  to  have  been  laid  open  to  the  invad- 


A.D.l?2-284.   PERTINAX  TO  DIOCLETIAN.  825 

ers.  Greece  was  ravaged  by  the  Goths ;  (he  famous  Temple  of 
Diana  at  Ephesus  was  burned  by  them,  together  with  that  fine 
city ;  and  Sapor,  king  of  the  Persians,  overran  Syria  and  Asia. 
He  was,  however,  finally  repelled  by  the  brave  Odenatus,  who,  with 
his  queen  Zenobia,  ruled  at  Palmyra. 

Valerian  died  in  captivity,  while  a  crowd  of  usurpers  rose  in 
arms  against  the  weak  Gallienus.  There  were  nineteen  pretend- 
ers to  the  throne  according  to  Gibbon,  but  this  period  is  usually 
known  as  that  of  the  Thirty  Tyrants.  This  melancholy  period 
was  also  marked  by  a  pestilence,  which  raged  for  fifteen  years  in 
every  province.  Five  thousand  persons  are  said  to  have  died  daily 
at  Rome  for  some  time ;  cities  were  depopulated,  and  the  number 
of  the  human  species  must  have  sensibly  declined.  A  famine  pre- 
ceded and  attended  the  pestilence,  earthquakes  were  common,  and 
the  third  century  is,  no  doubt,  the  most  melancholy  period  in  the 
history  of  Europe. 

Gallienus  was  murdered  in  A.D.  268,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mar- 
cus Aurelius  Claudius,  who  died  of  a  pestilence  which  had  broken 
out  in  his  army  in  Egypt.  Aurelian,  a  native  of  Pannonia,  was 
the  next  emperor.  His  reign  lasted  four  years  and  nine  months, 
but  was  filled  with  remarkable  events.  He  abandoned  Dacia  to 
the  Goths,  defeated  the  Alemanni,  and  drove  them  out  of  Italy. 
But  he  foresaw  the  danger  of  future  invasions,  and  surrounded 
Rome  with  new  walls  about  twenty-one  miles  in  extent.  In  A.D. 
272  he  marched  against  Zenobia,  queen  of  Palmyra,  who  ventured 
to  defy  the  power  of  Rome.  This  illustrious  woman  was  not  only 
learned,  beautiful,  and  an  agreeable  writer,  but  governed  the  East 
for  five  years  with  discretion  and  success.  Aurelian  was  amazed 
at  her  warlike  preparations  upon  the  fall  of  Palmyra,  and  treated 
her  beautiful  city  with  lenity;  but  the  Palmyrenians  having  re- 
belled, the  city  was  taken  by  storm,  and  its  people  put  to  death. 
The  ruins  of  Palmyra  are  still  among  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
ancient  world. 

Aurelian  now  returned  to  Rome  to  celebrate  his  triumph.  The 
spoils  of  every  climate  were  borne  before  him ;  his  captives  weue 
from  Germany,  Syria,  and  Egypt,  and  among  them  were  the  Em- 
peror Tetrieus  and  the  beautiful  Zenobia,  bound  with  fetters  of 
gold.  A  whole  day  was  consumed  in  the  passage  of  the  triumphi.V 
procession  through  the  streets  of  Rome.  But  Aurelian,  who  was 
illiterate,  unpolished,  and  severe,  failed  to  win  the  regard  of  his 
people,  and  was  plainly  more  at  his  ease  at  the  head  of  his  army 
than  in  the  cultivated  society  of  Rome.  He  returned,  therefore, 
to  the  East,  where  he  died,  as  was  usual  with  so  many  of  the  em- 


326  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLH 

perors,  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin,  in  A.D.  275.  He  restored  vigor 
to  the  empire,  and  preserved  it  from  instant  destruction. 

The  army,  filled  with  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  the  emperor,  re- 
venged his  death  by  tearing  his  assassin  in  pieces ;  and  they  then 
wrote  a  respectful  letter  to  the  Senate,  asking  the  Senators  to  se- 
lect his  successor.  The  Senate,  however,  passed  a  decree  that  the 
army  should  name  the  new  emperor.  The  soldiers,  in  their  turn, 
refused,  and  thus  for  eight  months  an  interregnum  prevailed  while 
this  friendly  contest  continued.  At  last  the  Senate  appointed  the 
virtuous  Tacitus,  who  claimed  a  descent  from  his  namesake,  the 
famous  historian.  Tacitus,  however,  who  was  seventy  years  old, 
sank  under  the  hardships  of  his  first  campaign,  and  died  A.D.  27G, 
at  Tyania,  in  Cappadocia. 

His  brother  Florian  then  ascended  the  throne,  but  was  defeated 
and  put  to  death  by  Probus,  the  best  soldier  of  the  age,  who,  in  six 
years,  once  more  repelled  the  barbarians  from  every  part  of  the 
empire.  He  delivered  Gaul  from  the  ravages  of  the  Germans, 
pursued  them  across  the  Rhine,  and  every  where  defeated  them. 
He  suppressed,  also,  several  insurrections,  and  employed  his  sol- 
diers in  various  useful  works.  But  at  length,  weary  of  these  la- 
bors, they  put  Probus  to  death,  A.D.  282. 

Carus,  the  next  emperor,  was  singularly  frugal  in  his  mode  of 
life.  When  the  Persian  embassadors  visited  him  in  his  tent  they 
found  him  sitting  upon  the  grass,  clothed  in  a  coarse  robe,  and  eat- 
ing his  supper  of  bacon  and  hard  pease.  Carus  gained  many  vic- 
tories over  the  Persians,  but  died  suddenly  in  A.D.  283.  His  two 
sons,  Carinus  and  Numerian,  succeeded  him,  but  were  soon  as0«& 
ainated,  giving  place  to  the  more  famous  Diocletian. 


The  Court-yard  of  Diocletian's  Palace  at  Spalatro. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

FROM    DIOCLETIAN,  A.D.   284,  TO   CONSTANTINE'S    DEA1II,  A.D.  337. 

DIOCLETIAN  began  to  reign  A.D.  284,  and  once  more  revived  the 
vigor  of  the  declining  empire,  which  now  seemed  more  than  ever 
to  depend  for  its  existence  upon  the  qualities  of  a  single  ruler.  It 
seems,  indeed,  to  have  required  an  intellect  of  no  common  order  to 
preserve  the  unity  of  the  empire,  composed  of  so  many  different 
nations,  of  territories  separated  by  such  vast  distances,  and  threat- 
ened on  every  side  by  innumerable  foes  ;  but,  of  all  his  contempo- 
raries, Diocletian  was  best  suited  to  this  task.  His  parents  had  been 
the  slaves  of  a  Roman  Senator,  and  he  had  himself  risen  from  this 
low  station  to  the  highest  positions  in  the  army.  He  acted  with 
generosity  toward  the  servants  of  the  former  emperor,  not  only  suf- 
fering them  to  remain  in  safety  under  his  rule,  but  even  to  retain 


328  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLIII 

their  offices.  Finding  the  empire  too  large  to  be  governed  by  a 
single  ruler,  he  selected  as  his  colleague  Maximian,  a  brave,  but 
fierce  and  ignorant  soldier,  who,  like  himself,  had  risen  to  a  high 
rank  in  the  army.  Maximian,  however,  always  admitted  the  in- 
tellectual superiority  of  Diocletian.  The  emperor  assumed  the  ti- 
tle of  Jovius,  and  Maximian  that  of  Herculius.  Diocletian  also 
appointed  two  Caesars,  Constantius  and  Galerius,  to  aid  him  in  the 
defense  of  the  empire,  which  was  divided  between  the  four  princes. 
Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain  were  intrusted  to  the  care  of  Constantius, 
Italy  and  Africa  to  Maximian,  Galerius  commanded  the  legions  on 
the  Danube,  while  Diocletian  reserved  for  himself  Thrace,  Egypt, 
and  Asia.  The  four  rulers  seemed  to  have  labored  together  in 
harmony,  but  the  establishment  of  four  courts  in  different  parts  of 
the  empire  obliged  them  to  increase  the  taxes,  and  every  province 
suffered  under  new  impositions.  Even  Italy,  which  'had  always 
been  favored  in  this  particular,  was  now  heavily  burdened,  and  ev- 
ery where  lands  were  abandoned  and  left  uncultivated  because  their 
owners  could  not  pay  the  taxes  and  impositions.  In  A.D.  287  a 
rebellion  occurred  in  Gaul,  which  was  suppressed  by  Maximian ; 
soon  after,  Carausius,  having  become  master  of  Britain,  and  pos- 
sessing a  considerable  fleet,  defied  the  power  of  the  emperor ;  but 
when  Constantius  was  appointed  Cassar  he  prepared  to  reduce  the 
island  to  subjection.  In  A.D.  294  Carausius  was  put  to  death  by 
Allecttis,  a  new  usurper.  Constantius  now  crossed  the  Channel 
and  recovered  the  island,  which,  after  a  separation  of  ten  years, 
was  once  more  reunited  to  the  empire.  During  this  reign  the 
Goths,  Vandals,  and  other  northern  barbarians  wasted  their  strength 
in  destructive  contests  with  each  other ;  but  whenever,  in  intervals 
of  peace,  they  invaded  the  Roman  territory,  they  were  driven  back 
by  the  valor  of  the  two  Caesars.  Maximian,  in  the  mean  time, 
subdued  a  revolt  in  Africa ;  and  Diocletian  himself  suppressed  one 
of  those  seditions  to  which  Egypt  was  constantly  exposed.  The 
emperor  besieged  Alexandria  for  eight  months,  cut  off  the  aque- 
ducts which  conveyed  Avater  to  the  city,  and,  having  taken  it,  put 
many  thousands  of  its  citizens  to  death.  One  remarkable  edict 
which  he  now  published  forbade  the  study  of  alchemy  in  Egypt, 
and  ordered  all  books  upon  that  subject  to  be  burned.  He  also 
made  a  treaty  with  the  Nubians,  in  order  to  protect  the  frontiers 
of  Egypt. 

It  gives  us,  indeed,  a  clear  view  of  the  immense  extent  of  the 
Roman  power  when  we  reflect  that  its  commanders  were,  almost 
at  the  same  moment,  struggling  successfully  against  its  enemies  in 
Africa,  Britain,  Germany,  and  the  East.  A  war  with  Persia  now 
arose,  in  which  Galerius  was  at  first  defeated,  A.D.  296.  But  the 


A.D.  284-337.     DIOCLETIAN  TO  CONSTANTINE.  32!< 

next  year  lie  passed  through  the  mountains  of  Armenia  at  the  heaci 
of  twenty-five  thousand  chosen  men,  and,  having  surprised  the  Per- 
sian  army  in  the  night,  slaughtered  great  numbers  of  them ;  tho 
booty,  too,  was  immense.  A  barbarian  soldier,  finding  a  bag  of 
shining  leather  filled  with  pearls,  threw  away  the  contents  and  pre- 
served the  bag  ;  and  the  uncultivated  savages  gathered  a  vast  spoil 
from  the  tents  of  the  Persians.  Galerius,  having  taken  prisoners 
several  of  the  wives  and  children  of  the  Persian  monarch  Narses, 
treated  them  with  such  tenderness  and  respect  that  Narses  made 
peace.  Mesopotamia  was  now  added  to  the  empire,  being  taken 
from  the  King  of  Armenia,  who  received  in  its  place  a  considera- 
ble Persian  province. 

The  two  emperors  returned  to  Rome  and  celebrated  their  triumph 
November  20,  A.D.  303,  the  last  spectacle  of  that  kind  which  the 
world  has  witnessed.  Romulus,  more  than  a  thousand  years  be- 
fore, had  ascended  the  Capitoline  Mount  on  foot,  bearing  in  his 
arms  the  spoil  of  Acron,  and  his  example  had  been  followed  by  a 
long  line  of  Roman  heroes.  In  the  last  triumph,  the  two  emperors 
were  attended  by  the  spoils  of  Africa  and  Britain,  of  the  East  and 
the  West. 

During  this  reign  also  occurred  the  last  persecution  of  the  Chris- 
tians, who  were  soon  to  become  the  masters  of  the  empire.  It  be- 
KJin  A.D.  303,  and  continued  for  ten  years;  and  such  multitudes  of 
the  Christians  perished  that  the  emperors  boasted  that  they  had 
wholly  extirpated  the  sect ! 

Diocletian  introduced  an  Eastern  pomp  into  his  court,  assumed 
the  titles  of  "Lord  and  Emperor,"  and  wore  a  diadem  set  with 
pearls.  His  robes  were  of  silk  and  gold.  He  required  his  subjects 
to  prostrate  themselves  before  him,  and  to  adore  him  as  a  divinity. 

In  A.D.  305,  like  Charles  V.,  he  resolved  to  abdicate  his  power, 
having  persuaded  his  colleague  Maximian  to  do  the  same  :  he  lived 
in  retirement  for  nine  years,  and  amused  himself  cultivating  his  gar- 
den. "I  wish  you  would  come  to  Salona"  (Spalatro),  he  wrote  to 
Maximian,  who  sought  to  draw  him  from  his  retirement,  "and  see 
the  cabbages  I  have  planted  :  you  would  never  again  mention  to  me 
the  name  of  empire."  But  the  close  of  his  life  was  embittered  by 
the  ingratitude  of  Constantino  and  Licinius,  and  the  dangers  of  the 
empire.  It  is  not  known  whether  he  died  by  disease  or  by  his  own 
hand. 

Upon  the  abdication  of  Diocletian  and  his  colleague,  the  two 
Caesars,  Constantius  and  Galerius,  assumed  the  title  of  Augustus. 
Constantius  retained  his  former  provinces,  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain. 
He  was  moderate,  amiable,  and  lived  with  Roman  simplicity.  Ga- 
lerius, on  the  other  hand,  was  haughty,  severe,  and  ambitious.  He 


330 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


CIIAV.  XLTIL 


had  married  a  daughter  of  Diocletian,  nnd  hoped  that  the  death  of 
Constantius  would  soon  leave  him  the  sole  emperor  of  Rome.  The 
two  emperors  now  appointed  two  Caesars,  Maximin  and  Severus, 
the  first  nephew  to  Galerius,  and  the  latter  devoted  to  his  interests. 
Constantius  died  at  York,  in  Britain,  A.D.  306,  and  his  son  Constaii- 
tiue  was  proclaime  1  Augustus  by  the  soldiers. 


Constantino  and  Fausta. 


This  prince,  afterward  Constantino  the  Great,  was  the  son  of  Con« 
stantius  and  Helena,  who  was  said  to  have  been  the  daughter  of  an 
inn-keeper.  When  Constantius  became  Ca3sar  he  divorced  Helena, 
and  her  son  was,  in  a  measure,  neglected.  Constantino,  however, 
soon  distinguished  himself  as  a  soldier,  and  won  the  affection  of  the 
army.  In  appearance  he  was  tall,  dignified,  and  pleasing ;  he  ex- 
celled in  all  military  exercises,  was  modest,  prudent,  and  well  in- 
formed. He  soon  attracted  the  jealousy  of  Galerius,  who  would 
have  put  him  to  death  had  he  not  escaped  to  his  father  in  Britain  ; 
and  now  Galerius  refused  to  allow  him  any  higher  title  than  that 
of  Ca;sar. 

Maxentius,  the  son  of  the  abdicated  emperor  Maximian,  was  also 
proclaimed  Augustus  by  his  soldiers,  and  prevailed  upon  his  father 
once  more  to  ascend  the  throne.  Severus,  who  marched  against 
them,  was  defeated  and  put  to  death ;  and  Constantino  now  mar- 
ried Fausta,  the  daughter  of  Maximian.  Galerius  led  a  large  army 
from  the  East,  but  was  repulsed  from  Rome  and  retreated,  leaving 
Maximian  and  his  son  masters  of  the  capital.  Galerius  next  asso- 


A.D.  284-337.     DIOCLETIAN  TO  CONSTANTINE. 


331 


ciated  Licinius  with  him  in  his  power,  and  there  were  now  six  sover- 
eigns upon  the  throne. 

In  A.D.  310,  however,  Maximian,  having  conspired  against  the 
life  of  Constantino,  was  put  to  death  ;  Galerius  died  the  next  year; 
in  A.D.  312  Maxentius  fell  hefore  the  arms  of  Constantino,  and  was 
drowned  in  the  Tiber  while  attempting  to  make  his  escape.  It  was 
during  this  campaign  that  Constantino  is  said  to  have  seen  the  mi- 
raculous cross  in  the  heavens. 

The  Roman  Senate  paid  unusual  honors  to  Constantino  ;  games 
and  festivals  were  instituted  in  memory  of  his  victory  over  Maxen- 
tius, and  a  triumphal  arch  was  erected,  whose  imperfect  architecture 
shows  the  decline  of  ancient  taste.  The  Arch  of  Trajan  was  strip- 
ped of  its  ornaments  to  adorn  that  of  Constantine. 


Arch  of  Coustantine. 

The  new  emperor  introduced  good  order  into  the  administration 
of  the  West,  revived  the  authority  of  the  Senate,  and  disbanded  the 
Praetorian  Guards;  he  revoked  the  edicts  against  the  Christians, 
and  paid  unusual  deference  to  the  bishops  and  saints  of  the  Church. 
The  Emperor  Licinius,  who  had  married  his  sister,  in  A.D.  313  de- 
feated and  put  to  death  Maximin,  so  that  the  empire  was  now 
shared  between  Constantine  and  Licinius. 

The  former  now  summoned  a  council  of  bishops  at  Aries  to  sup- 
press the  heresy  of  the  Donatists,  but,  before  it  met,  was  forced  to 
march  against  Licinius,  who  had  conspired  against  him.  Licinius 
was  defeated  in  two  battles,  and  forced  to  give  up  a  large  part  of 
his  dominions  to  his  conqueror.  Constantine  next  defeated  tho 


332  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CHAP.  XLIII. 

Goths  and  Sarmate.  Licinius  had  assumed  the  defense  of  Pagan- 
ism, while  Constantino  raised  the  standard  of  the  Cross.  The  last 
struggle  between  them  took  place  near  Adrianople ;  the  Pagan  army 
was  defeated  and  put  to  flight,  and  in  A.D.  324  Licinius  was  put  to 
death.  Thus  Constantino  reigned  alone  over  the  empire  of  Au- 
gustus. 

At  the  famous  Council  of  Nice,  which  met  in  A.D.  325,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  was  established,  Arianism  condemned,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  emperor  was,  in  effect,  acknowledged  to  be  the 
spiritual  head  of  the  Church.  But  an  event  now  occurred  which 
must  have  destroyed  forever  the  happiness  of  Constantino.  He  was 
induced  to  put  to  death  his  virtuous  son  Crispus,  through  the  false 
accusations  of  his  wife  Fausta,  and  when  afterward  he  discovered 
the  falseness  of  the  charges  made  against  Crispus,  he  directed  Faus- 
ta and  her  accomplices  to  be  slain. 

Kome,  which  had  so  long  been  the  capital  of  the  world,  was  now 
to  descend  from  that  proud  position  and  become  a  provincial  city. 
When  Constantino  returned  to  Rome  after  the  Council  of  Nice,  he 
found  himself  assailed  with  insults  and  execrations.  The  Senate 
and  the  people  of  the  capital  saw  with  horror  the  destroyer  of  their 
national  faith,  and  they  looked  upon  Constantino  as  accursed  by  the 
kods.  The  execution  of  his  wife  and  son  soon  after  increased  the 
ill  feeling  against  the  emperor,  and  Constantino  probably  resolved 
to  abandon  a  city  upon  which  he  had  bestowed  so  many  favors,  and 
which  had  repaid  him  with  such  ingratitude.  Ho  was  conscious, 
too,  that  Rome,  seated  in  the  heart  of  Italy,  was  no  longer  a  con- 
venient capital  for  his  empire,  and  he  therefore  resolved  to  build  a 
new  city  on  the  site  of  ancient  Byzantium.  The  Bosphorus,  a  nar- 
row strait,  connects  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Sea  of  Marmora ;  and 
here,  on  a  triangular  piece  of  ground,  inclosing  on  one  side  an  ex- 
cellent harbor,  Constantino  laid  the  foundations  of  his  capital.  It 
was  situated  in  the  forty-first  degree  of  latitude,  possessed  a  tem- 
perate climate,  and  a  fertile  territory  around  it ;  while,  being  placed 
on  the  confines  of  both  Europe  and  Asia,  it  commanded  the  two  di- 
visions of  the  empire. 

Constantinople  was  adorned  with  all  the  architectural  elegance 
of  the  age,  but  the  arts  of  sculpture  and  of  decoration  had  so  de- 
clined that  Constant! ne  was  forced  to  rob  the  cities  of  Greece  of 
their  finest  works  in  order  to  supply  the  deficiencies  of  his  own  art- 
ists :  Athens  and  Asia  were  despoiled  to  adorn  his  semi-barbarous 
capital.  The  city  was  provided  with  a  forum,  in  which  was  placed 
a  column  of  porphyry  upon  a  white  marble  base,  in  all  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet  high,  upon  which  stood  a  bronze  figure  of  Apollo. 
A  hippodrome,  or  circus  of  great  size,  and  the  baths  and  pleasure- 


A.I).  281-337.     DIOCLETIAN  TO  CONSTANTINE. 


333 


Map  of  rropontis,  Hellespont,  Bosphorus. 


grounds,  recalled  the  memory  of  those  of  Rome.  Schools  and  the- 
atres, aqueducts,  fourteen  churches,  fourteen  palaces,  and  a  great 
number  of  magnificent  private  houses,  added  to  the  splendor  of  the 
new  city.  Constantine  designed,  it  is  said,  to  have  called  his  cap- 
ital the  SECOND  OR  NEW  ROME,  but  his  own  name  has  always  been 
preferred. 


Map  of  Constantinople. 


Having  thus  provided  a  capital,  Constantine  next  began  to  form 
a  new  constitution  for  his  empire ;  he  established,  therefore,  a  com- 


331  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CIIAI-.  XLIIL 

plete  despotism,  all  the  power  being  lodged  in  the  emperor,  and  all 
honors  and  titles  being  conferred  by  him  alone.  The  name  of  Con- 
sul was  still  preserved,  these  officers  being  yearly  appointed  by  the 
emperor;  but  we  now  notice  the  titles  of  Count  and  Duke  joined 
with  those  of  Quaestors  and  Proconsuls.  All  the  civil  magistrates 
were  taken  from  the  legal  profession.  The  law  was  now  the  most 
honorable  of  the  professions,  and  the  law  school  at  Berytus,  in  rhoe- 
nicia,  had  flourished  since  the  reign  of  Alexander  Severus. 

The  Roman  Empire  was  divided  into  four  great  prefectures, 
which  were  themselves  subdivided  into  dioceses  and  provinces. 
The  prefectures  were  named  that  of  the  East,  of  Illyricum,  of  Italy, 
and  of  Gaul.  A  Pratorian  Pracfect  had  charge  of  each  prefecture, 
and  regulated  its  civil  government ;  took  care  of  the  roads,  ports, 
granaries,  manufactures,  coinage ;  was  the  supreme  legal  magis- 
trate, from  whose  decision  there  was  no  appeal.  Rome  and  Con- 
stantinople had  their  own  Praafects,  whose  courts  took  the  place  of 
those  of  the  ancient  Praetors,  while  a  considerable  police  force  pre- 
served the  quiet  of  each  city.  The  magistrates  of  the  empire  were 
divided  into  three  classes,  the  Illustrissimi,  or  illustrious;  the  Spec- 
tabiles,  or  respectable  ;  and  the  Clarissimi,  or  the  honorable. 

Constantino  also  made  Christianity  the  established  religion  of 
the  state,  and  appropriated  a  large  portion  of  the  revenues  of  the 
cities  to  the  support  of  the  churches  and  the  clergy.  His  standing 
army  was  very  large,  but  the  ranks  were  now  filled  chiefly  by  bar- 
barians, the  Roman  youth  having  lost  all  taste  for  arms.  It  is  said 
the  young  men  of  Italy  were  in  the  habit  of  cutting  off  the  fingers 
of  the  right  hand  in  order  to  unfit  themselves  for  military  sen-ice. 

In  order  to  support  this  extensive  system,  Constantino  was  forced 
to  impose  heavy  taxes  ti]  on  his  people.  Every  year  the  emperor 
subscribed  with  his  own  hand,  in  purple  ink,  the  indlction,  or  tax 
levy  of  each  diocese,  which  was  set  up  in  its  principal  city,  and 
when  this  proved  insufficient,  an  additional  tax,  or  siiperindiction, 
was  imposed.  Lands,  cattle,  and  slaves  were  all  heavily  taxed, 
and  the  declining  agriculture  of  the  empire  was  finally  ruined  by 
the  exorbitant  demands  of  the  state.  In  Campania  alone,  once  the 
most  fertile  part  of  Italy,  one  eighth  of  the  whole  province  lay  un- 
cultivated, and  the  condition  of  Gaul  seems  to  have  been  no  better. 
Besides  this,  merchants,  manufacturers,  mechanics,  and  citizens 
were  taxed  beyond  their  power  of  endurance,  while  those  who  fail- 
ed to  pay  were  shut  up  in  prison.  Every  fourth  year  these  taxes 
on  industry  were  levied,  a  period  to  which  the  people  looked  for- 
ward with  terror  and  lamentation.  Gifts  were  also  demanded  from 
the  cities  or  provinces  on  various  occasions,  such  as  the  accession 
of  au  emoeror,  the  birth  of  an  emperor's  heir,  the  free  gift  of  the 


A.D.  284-337.     DIOCLETIAN  TO  CONSTANTINE.  385 

city  of  Rome,  for  example,  being  fixed  at  about  three  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars;  and,  in  fine,  the  imperial  despotism  reduced  the  peo- 
ple to  want,  and  hastened,  even  more  than  the  inroads  of  the  bar- 
barians, the  destruction  of  civil  society. 

Constantine  in  his  old  age  adopted  the  luxury  and  pomp  which 
Diocletian  introduced  from  the  East ;  he  wore  false  hair  of  various 
colors  carefully  arranged,  a  diadem  of  costly  gems,  and  a  robe  of 
silk  embroidered  with  fiowers  of  gold.  His  family,  at  an  earlier 
period,  consisted  of  Crispus,  a  son  by  his  first  wife  Minervina,  and 
the  three  sons  of  Fausta,  Constantine,  Constantius,  and  Constans. 
Besides  these  there  were  three  daughters.  Crispus,  however,  who 
was  beloved  by  the  people  and  the  army,  excited  the  jealousy  of 
Fausta.  Constantine  was  led  to  believe  that  his  son  was  engaged 
in  a  conspiracy  against  his  life,  and  Crispus  was  executed  by  his 
father's  orders,  together  with  Caesar  Licinius,  the  son  of  Constan- 
tino's favorite  sister.  Helena,  the  aged  mother  of  Constantino,  un- 
dertook to  avenge  her  grandson.  Fausta  was  finally  proved  to  be 
unfaithful  to  her  husband,  and  put  to  death,  with  many  of  her  friends 
and  followers.  These  fearful  scenes  within  the  palace  recalled  to 
the  Roman  people  the  memory  of  Nero  and  Caligula. 

The  three  sons  of  Fausta  were  now  the  heirs  of  the  throne,  and, 
with  their  two  cousins,  Dalmatius  and  Hannibalianus,  were  careful- 
ly instructed  by  Christian  professors,  Greek  philosophers,  and  Ro- 
man jurisconsults,  the  emperor  himself  teaching  them  the  science 
of  government  and  of  man.  They  also  studied  the  art  of  war  in 
defending  the  frontiers  of  the  empire;  but  no  important  war  dis- 
turbed the  last  fourteen  years  of  this  reign.  Constantine  reigned 
thirty  years,  the  longest  period  of  any  since  Augustus;  and  he  died 
May  22,  A.D.  337,  at  his  palace  at  Nicomedia,  aged  sixty-four  years. 

Constantine,  although  professing  the  Christain  faith,  was  not  bap- 
tized until  a  short  time  before  his  death,  when  he  received  that  sol- 
emn rite  with  many  professions  of  penitence,  and  of  a  desire  to  live 
in  future  according  to  the  precepts  of  religion.  He  seems  to  havo 
possessed  many  excellent  qualities,  was  brave,  active,  and  untiring, 
ruled  with  firmness,  and  gave  a  large  portion  of  his  time  to  the 
carea  of  state. 


Julian  the  Apostate. 

CHAPTER   XLIV. 

FROM   THE    DEATH   OF    CONSTANTINE,  A.D.  337,  TO   ROMULUS   AU- 
GTJSTULUS,  A.D.  476. 

THE  three  sons  of  the  late  emperor,  Constantine,  Constantiua, 
and  Constans,  as  soon  as  their  father  was  dead,  put  to  death  their 
two  cousins,  Hannibalianus  and  Dalmatius,  with  many  more  of 
their  relatives;  only  Gallus  and  Julian,  the  children  of  Julius  Con- 
stantius,  being  left  alive.  They  then  divided  the  empire,  A.D.  337, 
Constantine,  the  elder,  retaining  the.  new  capital,  Constans  receiv- 
ing the  western  provinces,  while  to  Constantius  was  left  Syria  and 
the  East.  Sapor,  king  of  Persia,  invaded  the  Eastern  provinces, 
and  defeated  the  Romans  in  various  battles.  Meanwhile  a  quar- 
rel broke  out  between  Constantine  and  Constans,  and  the  former, 
having  invaded  his  brother's  provinces,  was  defeated  and  slain, 
A.D.  350.  Ten  years  afterward  Constans  was  himself  put  to  death 
by  Magncntius,  an  ambitious  soldier,  who  at  once  assumed  the 
name  of  emperor.  Constantius  marched  against  him,  but  found 
that  Vctranio,  prefect  of  Illyricum,  had  joined  him,  instigated  by 
the  Princess  Constantiua.  He  finally, however,  delVated  Magiicn- 


A.D.  837-476.  CONSTANTINE  TO  K.  AUGUSTULUS.        837 

tius,  and  deposed  the  aged  Vetranio,  and  thus  became  the  master 
of  Rome.  Having  recalled  Callus  and  Julian  from  hanishrnent, 
the  emperor  gave  them  the  title  of  Caesars.  Gallus  proved  unfit 
for  public;  affairs,  while  Julian  won  the  esteem  of  all  men  by  his 
conduct  and  valor.  He  drove  the  Germans  out  of  Gaul,  which 
they  had  invaded,  and  even  crossed  the  Rhine,  in  imitation  of  Ju- 
lius Ca;sar. 

Constantius  now  became  jealous  of  the  rising  fame  of  Julian, 
who  was  beloved  by  the  Western  legions,  and  commanded  him  to 
send  the  finest  part  of  his  army  to  the  East.  Julian  prepared  to 
obey,  but  the  soldiers  rose  in  revolt,  proclaiming  him  Julian  Au- 
gustus. He  sent  messengers  to  the  emperor  demanding  the  rec- 
ognition of  his  election  ;  but  war  could  not  long  be  averted.  Ju- 
lian abjured  Christianity,  which  he  had  hitherto  professed,  together 
with  his  allegiance  to  the  emperor,  and  led  a  small  army  of  well- 
chosen  soldiers  against  his  rival.  Meantime  Constantius,  in  A.D. 
361,  November  3d,  died  of  a  fever  in  Syria,  while  Julian  entered 
Constantinople  December  llth,  amid  the  applause  of  the  people. 
He  was  acknowledged  emperor.  He  was  now  in  his  thirty-second 
year,  in  many  particulars  the  most  remarkable  of  the  second  Fla- 
vian family. 

Julian  l:ad  been  educated  by  the  Platonic  philosophers,  and  re- 
solved to  restore  the  ancient  form  of  religion.  He  sacrificed  to  the 
pagan  gods,  rebuilt  their  temples,  revived  the  practice  of  augury, 
or  divination,  and  vainly  strove  to  impose  upon  the  human  mind  a 
superstition  which  it  had  just  thrown  off.  In  order  to  mortify  the 
Christians,  he  resolved  to  rebuild  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  and 
restore  the  Jews  to  their  ancient  seat.  But  some  natural  phenom- 
enon interposed ;  the  workmen  were  driven  away  by  balls  of  fire, 
and  Julian  abandoned  his  design. 

Except  this  unphilosophical  hostility  toward  the  Christians, 
whose  faith  he  had  once  professed,  Julian  seems  to  have  made  a 
sincere  attempt  to  improve  the  condition  of  his  people.  He  lived 
with  frugality,  rewarded  merit,  and  encouraged  learning,  except 
where  it  was  employed  in  the  defense  of  Christianity.  He  was 
also  successful  in  his  wars  against  the  Germans  and  the  Persians, 
but  at  length  was  defeated  by  the  latter,  and  was  killed  A.D.  363, 
June  26th. 

Julian  affected  in  his  dress  and  manners  the  rndeness  and  indif- 
ference of  a  philosopher,  was  free  from  vice,  possessed  considerable 
learning,  and  wrote  a  work  of  some  value,  in  which  he  compared 
and  studied  the  characters  of  the  long  line  of  his  predecessors. 

Jovian  was  now  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  Eastern  army,  and 
concluded  a  dishonorable  peace  witli  the  Persians.  He  next  pub- 

Y 


338  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

lishcd  an  edict  restoring  Christianity,  but  was  found  dead  in  his 
bed,  A.D.  364. 

Valentinian  was  next  chosen  emperor,  who  gave  the  Eastern 
provinces  to  his  brother  Valens.  He  made  Milan  the  scat  of  his 
ow»  government,  while  Valens  reigned  at  Constantinople ;  and 
the  empire  was  from  this  time  divided  into  the  Eastern  and  the 
Western.  The  whole  of  the  Western  world  was  distressed  by  the 
invasion  of  barbarous  tribes,  and  Valentinian  now  made  his  son 
Gratian  his  heir,  in  order  to  remove  all  doubt  as  to  the  succession. 
The  Saxon  pirates,  meantime,  harassed  all  the  coasts  of  Gaul, 
while  Britain  was  invaded  by  the  Picts  and  Scots.  Theodosius, 
however,  defeated  them,  and  was  soon  after  sent  to  quell  an  insur- 
rection in  Africa.  This  he  succeeded  in  doing,  when  Valentinian 
died  suddenly,  A.D.  375. 

Valens,  his  brother,  meantime  had  suppressed  a  rebellion  in  the 
East,  led  by  Procopius ;  and  then,  having  become  an  Arian,  com- 
menced a  severe  persecution  of  the  orthodox,  of  whom  no  fewer 
than  eighty  ecclesiastics  were  put  to  death  for  supporting  the  elec- 
tion of  a  bishop  of  their  own  faith  at  Constantinople.  Valens  also 
succeeded  in  repelling  the  attacks  of  the  Persians. 

In  the  West  Valentinian  had  been  succeeded  by  his  sons  Gratian 
and  Valentinian  II.  The  brave  Theodosius,  meanwhile,  whose 
valor  had  preserved  the  peace  of  the  nation,  was  executed  by  order 
of  Gratian,  and  soon  after  the  Huns  appeared  upon  the  Danube. 
These  savages  are  thought  to  have  entered  Europe  from  Tartary. 
Their  faces  were  artificially  flattened  and  their  beards  plucked  out. 
They  left  the  cultivation  of  their  fields  to  the  women  or  slaves, 
and  devoted  their  lives  to  warfare.  A  wandering  race,  they  built 
no  cities  nor  houses,  and  never  slept  beneath  a  roof.  They  lived 
upon  horseback.  The  Huns  first  attacked  their  fellow-barbarians, 
the  Ostrogoths,  and  made  a  fearful  carnage,  putting  all  the  women 
and  children  to  death. 

The  Gothic  nation  now  begged  permission  from  the  Romans  to 
cross  the  Danube,  and  settle  within  the  Roman  territory.  Their 
request  was  granted,  upon  condition  that  they  should  surrender  all 
their  arms;  but  this  condition  was  imperfectly  fulfilled.  The  cc'- 
ebrated  Bishop  Ulphilas  about  this  time  converted  the  Goths  to 
Arianism,  invented  a  Gothic  alphabet,  and  infused  among  the  Goths 
a  hatred  for  the  Catholic  faith,  which  served  to  increase  their  zeal 
in  all  their  future  conflicts  with  the  Romans.  Ill-treated  by  the 
Roman  commissioners  who  had  been  sent  by  the  Emperor  Valens 
to  superintend  their  settlement,  the  Goths  marched  against  Con- 
stantinople. Valens  wrote  to  Gratian  for  aid,  and  the  latter,  al- 
though his  own  dominions  were  harassed  by  the  Germans,  marched 


A.I  >.  :!:H  17(5.  CONSTANTINE  TO  R.  AUGUSTULUS.   33!) 

to  tlic  aid  of  his  undo,  hut  died  at  Sirmium.  Vnlens  encountered 
Fritigern,  tlie  Gothic  leader,  near  Adrianople,  in  A.D.  378,  and  was 
defeated  and  slain.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  Roman  army  was 
destroyed  upon  this  fatal  field. 

Gratian  now  chose  as  his  colleague  Theodosius,  the  son  of  the 
former  brave  commander  of  that  name,  and  Theodosius  for  a  time 
restored  the  Roman  empire.  lie  defeated  the  Goths,  won  their  af- 
fections by  his  clemency,  and  induced  them  to  protect  the  frontiers 
of  the  Danube.  Gratian  was  defeated  and  put  to  death,  A.D.  383, 
by  a  usurper,  Maximus,  who  also  deprived  Valentinian  II.  of  his 
province  of  Italy.  Theodosius,  however,  defeated  the  usurper  in 
A.D.  388,  and  generously  restored  Valentinian  to  his  throne.  Vai- 
entinian  was  murdered  by  a  Frank,  Arbogastes,  in  A.D.  31)2,  but 
Theodosius  marched  against  him,  and  defeated  and  destroyed  the 
^rebels  Arbogastes  and  Eugenius,  A.D.  394. 

Theodosius  the  Great,  who  had  thus  reunited  the  empire  under 
his  own  sway,  belonged  to  the  orthodox  faith,  and  sought  to  sup- 
press Arianism,  as  well  as  many  other  heresies  which  had  crept 
into  the  Christian  Church.  He  was  a  prudent  ruler,  and  resisted 
successfully  the  inroads  of  the  barbarians.  He  divided  his  empire 
between  his  two  sons,  Honorius  and  Arcadius,  the  former  becoming 
Emperor  of  the  West,  the  latter,  who  was  the  elder,  succeeding  his 
father  at  Constantinople  ;  and  Theodosius  soon  after  died,  lament- 
ed by  his  subjects.  Rufinus,  who  became  the  chief  minister  of  Ar- 
cadius, oppressed  and  plundered  the  Eastern  empire.  He  was  uni- 
versally hated  by  the  people.  Stilicho,  on  the  other  hand,  who 
also  became  the  chief  minister  of  Hqnorius,  was  a  very  different 
character.  He  was  a  brave  and  active  commander,  and  restored 
the  former  glory  of  the  Roman  arms.  His  chief  opponent  was  the 
famous  Alaric,  who  now  united  the  Gothic  forces  under  his  own 
command,  and,  having  penetrated  into  Greece,  ravaged  and  deso- 
lated that  unhappy  country.  The  barbarians  plundered  Athens, 
Corinth,  Sparta,  and  Argos ;  and  those  cities,  once  so  renowned 
for  valor,  seemed  to  offer  him  no  resistance,  so  fallen  was  the  an- 
cient spirit  of  the  Greeks.  Stilicho,  however,  pursued  Alaric  into 
Elis,  and  would,  perhaps,  have  totally  destroyed  the  barbarians  had 
not  the  feeble  Arcadius  not  only  made  peace  with  Alaric,  but  ap» 
pointed  him  to  the  command  of  Illyricum.  Alaric,  not  long  after, 
invaded  Italy,  but  was  defeated  by  his  rival.  In  A.D.  403  he  again 
invaded  Italy,  and  was  induced  to  retreat  by  a  considerable  bribe. 

The  Emperor  Honorins  removed  from  Rome  to  Ravenna,  where 
he  believed  himself  more  secure  ;  and  when  a  new  horde  of  barba- 
rians invaded  Italy  in  A.D.  40G,  and  had  besieged  Florence,  they 
were  totally  defeated  and  destroyed  by  Stilicho.  A  portion  of  the 


840  HISTORY  OF  HOME.  CiiAP.XLIV. 

invaders  escaped  into  Gaul,  where  they  committed  great  ravages, 
until  Constantino,  the  governor  of  Britain,  was  proclaimed  emper- 
or, who  wrested  Gaul  and  Spain  from  the  dominion  of  Honoring. 
This  weak  prince,  in  A.D.  408,  consented  to  the  murder  of  Stilicho. 
His  new  minister,  Olympius,  directed  the  slaughter  of  the  families 
of  the  barbarians  throughout  Italy,  a  cruelty  which  was  fearfully 
avenged. 

Alaric,  the  scourge  of  Rome,  marched  into  Italy,  and  in  A.D.  408 
besieged  the  capital.  Pestilence  and  famine  soon  raged  within  the 
walls  of  Rome,  until  the  Senate  purchased  a  respite  from  their  ca- 
lamities by  an  enormous  ransom.  Honorius  refused  to  confirm 
the  treaty,  and  the  next  year  Alaric  once  more  appeared  before  the 
city.  He  took  possession  of  Ostia,  the  port  of  Rome,  reduced  the 
Senate  to  surrender,  and  proclaimed  Attalus  emperor.  Honorius 
still  refusing  to  yield  to  his  dejnands,  Alaric  resolved  to  punish' 
Rome  for  the  vices  of  its  emperor.  The  sack  of  that  city  now 
followed,  one  of  the  most  fearful  tragedies  in  history. 

No  foreign  enemy  had  appeared  before  the  gates  of  Rome  since 
the  invasion  of  Hannibal,  until  Alaric  made  his  successful  inroad 
into  Italy.  The  city  still  retained  all  that  magnificence  with  which 
it  had  been  invested  by  the  emperors.  The  Colosseum,  the  baths, 
the  aqueducts,  the  palaces  of  the  Senators,  the  public  gardens,  and 
the  ancient  temples,  still  remained ;  but  its  people  were  lost  in 
luxury  and  vice.  Learning  was  no  longer  respected  among  them, 
the  gamester  or  the  cook  being  more  esteemed  than  philosophers  or 
poets ;  and  the  luxurious  Senators  passed  their  lives  in  frivolous 
and  degrading  amusements.  .  The  indolent  people  were  maintained 
by  a  daily  distribution  of  bread,  baked  in  the  public  ovens ;  and 
oil,  wine,  and  bacon  were  also  provided  for  them  during  a  part  of 
the  year.  The  public  baths  were  open  to  the  people,  and  for  a 
small  copper  coin  they  might  enter  those  scenes  of  luxury  where 
the  walls  were  incrusted  with  precious  marble,  and  perpetual 
streams  of  hot  water  flowed  from  silver  tubes.  From  the  bath 
they  passed  to  the  Circus,  where,  although  the  combats  of  gladia- 
tors had  been  suppressed  by  Christian  princes,  a  succession  of 
amusements  was  still  provided.  In  this  manner  the  luxurious  no- 
bles and  people  of  Rome  passed  their  tranquil,  inglorious  lives. 

The  wealth  of  the  capital  was  such  as  might  well  attract  the 
barbarous  invader.  The  palaces  of  the  Senators  were  filled  with 
gold  and  silver  ornaments,  and  the  churches  had  been  enriched  by 
the  contributions  of  pious  worshipers.  Many  of  the  nobles  pos- 
sessed estates  which  produced  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  and  the  wealth  of  the  world  was  gathered  within  the  walls  of 
its  capital. 


A.D.  337-476.  CONSTANT1NE  TO  R.  AUGUSTULUS.       341 

We  have  no  means  of  estimating  accurately  the  population  of 
Rome.  Its  walls  embraced  a  circuit  of  twenty-one  miles,  and  it 
is  probable  that  nearly  a  million  of  people  were  contained  within 
the  walls  and  the  suburbs. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  Rome  when  it  was  about  to  fall  before 
the  arms  of  the  barbarians.  August  24th,  A.D.  410,  Alaric  ap- 
proached the  city,  and  the  gates  being  opened  to  him  by  some 
Gothic  slaves,  his  troops  began  at  night  a  fearful  scene  of  pillage 
and  destruction.  Men,  women,  and  children  were  involved  in  a 
general  massacre;  nobles  and  plebeians  suffered  under  a  common 
fate.  The  Goths,  as  they  entered,  set  fire  to  the  houses  in  order 
to  light  their  path,  and  the  flames  consumed  a  large  part  of  the 
city.  Great  numbers  of  the  citizens  were  driven  away  in  hordes  to 
be  sold  as  slaves ;  others  escaped  to  Africa,  or  to  the  islands  on  the 
coast  of  Italy,  where  the  Goths,  having  no  ships,  were  unable  to  fol- 
low them.  But  Alaric,  who  was  an  Arian,  spared  the  churches  of 
Rome,  and  was  anxious  to  save  the  city  from  destruction.  From 
this  time,  however,  A.D.  410,  began  that  rapid  decay  which  soon 
converted  Rome  into  a  heap  of  ruins. 

Alaric,  after  six  days  given  to  plunder,  marched  out  of  the  city 
to  the  southern  part  of  Italy,  where  he  died.  His  body  was  buried 
under  the  waters  of  a  rivulet,  which  was  turned  from  its  course  in 
order  to  prepare  his  tomb ;  and,  the  waters  being  once  more  led 
back  to  their  channel,  the  captives  who  had  performed  the  labor 
were  put  to  death,  that  the  Romans  might  never  discover  the  re- 
mains of  their  Gothic  scourge. 

The  brother  of  Alaric,  Adolphus,  who  succeeded  him,  was  mar- 
ried  to  the  Princess  Placidia,  and  now  became  the  chief  ally  of 
Honorius.  He  restored  Gaul  to  the  empire,  but  was  murdered 
while  upon  an  expedition  into  Spain.  Wallia,  the  next  Gothic 
king,  reduced  all  Spain  and  the  eastern  part  of  Gaul  under  tho 
yoke  of  the  Visigoths.  The  empire  of  the  West  was  now  rapidly 
dismembered.  The  Franks  and  Burgundians  took  possession  of 
Gaul.  Britain,  too,  was  from  this  time  abandoned  by  the  Romans, 
and  was  afterward,  in  A.D.  448,  overrun  and  conquered  by  the  An- 
gles and  the  Saxons,  and  thus  the  two  great  races,  the  English 
and  the  French,  began. 

Arcadius,  the  Eastern  emperor,  governed  by  his  minister,  the 
eunuch  Eutropius,  and  by  the  Empress  Eudoxia,  was  led  into  many 
cruelties ;  and  St.  Chrysostom,  the  famous  bishop  and  orator,  was 
one  of  the  illustrious  victims  of  their  persecutions.  Arcadius  died 
in  A.D.  408,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  young  Theodosius,  who  was 
controlled  in  all  his  measures  by  his  sister  Pulcheria,  and  for  forty 
veai-s  Pulcheria  ruled  the  East  with  uncommon  abilitv.  Honorius 


342  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

died  in  A.D.  423,  when  Valentinian  III.,  son  of  Placidia,  his  sister, 
was  made  Emperor  of  the  West.  He  was  wholly  governed  by  his 
mo! her,  and  thus  Placidia  and  Pulcheria  ruled  over  the  civilized 
world. 

The  Vandals,  who  had  settled  in  the  province  of  Andalusia,  in 
Spain,  were  invited  into  Africa  by  Count  Boniface,  who  had  been 
led  into  this  act  of  treachery  by  the  intrigues  of  his  rival  .JEtius. 
Genseric,  the  Vandal  king,  conquered  Africa,  although  Boniface, 
repenting  of  his  conduct,  endeavored  to  recover  the  province  ;  and 
thus  Italy  was  now  threatened  on  the  south  by  the  Vandal  power 
in  Africa. 

The  Huns,  meantime,  who  had  been  detained  upon  the  upper 
side  of  the  Danube,  now  crossed  that  river,  being  united  under  the 
control  of  Attila,  and  became  the  terror  of  the  civilized  world. 
Attila  first  threatened  an  attack  upon  the  Eastern  empire,  but  at 
length  turned  his  arms  against  the  West.  He  was  defeated  by 
/Etius  and  the  Visigoths  in  A.D.  451,  but  the  next  year  he  invaded 
Italy,  demanded  the  Princess  Honoria  in  marriage,  and  destroyed 
many  of  the  Italian  cities.  He  spared  the  city  of  Kome,  however, 
and  finally  died  in  A.D.  453.  His  death  alone  saved  the  empire 
from  complete  ruin. 

Valentinian  III.,  who  had  put  to  death  the  brave  commander 
jEtius,  was  murdered  by  the  patrician  Maximus  in  A.D.  455.  The 
Vandals  now  besieged  and  plundered  Rome,  and  sold  many  thou- 
sands of  the  citizens  as  slaves.  Avitus,  a  Gaul,  next  became  em- 
peror by  the  influence  of  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  but  was 
soon  deposed  by  Count  Ricimer,  and  was  followed  by  Majorian,  a 
man  of  merit,  who  endeavored  to  reform  the  nation.  He  died  in 
A.D.  461.  Count  Ricimer  then  declared  Severus  emperor,  but  was 
forced  to  apply  for  aid  against  the  Vandals  to  the  court  of  Con- 
stantinople, where  Leo  was  now  emperor.  Leo  appointed  Anthe- 
mius  to  the  throne  of  the  West,  and  sent  an  army  against  the  Van- 
dals in  Africa,  which  was  totally  defeated.  Ricimer  then  deposed 
Anthemius,  and  declared  Olybrius  emperor  ;  but  both  Ricimer  and 
Olybrius  died  in  A.D.  472.  Leo  next  appointed  Julius  Nepos  his 
colleague.  Glycerius,  an  obscure  soldier,  made  an  efl'ort  to  obtain 
the  throne,  but  yielded  to  Nepos,  and  became  Bishop  of  Salona. 
Orestes,  who  had  succeeded  Count  Ricimer  as  commander  of  the 
barbarian  mercenaries,  deprived  Nepos  of  his  throne ;  and  Nepos, 
having  fled  into  Dalmatia,  was  executed  by  his  old  rival  Glycerius. 

Orestes  gave  the  throne  to  his  son  Romulus,  to  whom  he  also 
gave  the  title  of  Augustus,  which  was  afterward  changed  by  com- 
mon consent  to  Augustulus.  But  Odoacer,  the  leader  of  the  Ger- 
man tribes,  put  Orestes  to  death,  sent  Augustulus  into  banishment. 


A.D.  337-476.  CONSTANTINE  TO  R.  AUGUSTULUS.       343 

with  a  pension  for  his  support,  mid,  having  abolished  the  title  of 
emperor,  in  A.D.  476  declared  himself  King  of  Italy. 

Romulus  Augustus  was  the  last  emperor  of  the  West,  and  bore 
tne  name  of  the  founder  of  the  monarchy  as  well  as  of  the  empire, 
a  singular  circumstance. 

In  this  manner  fell  the  Roman  Empire,  a  noble  fabric,  which  its 
founder  hoped  would  endure  forever.  Its  destruction,  however, 
gave  rise  to  the  various  kingdoms  and  states  of  modern  Europe, 
and  thus  civilization  and  Christianity,  which  might  have  remained 
confined  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  have  been  spread  ovei 
a  largo  portion  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

ROMAN   LITERATURE   UNDER   THE    EMPIRE.       A.D.  14-476. 

ROMAN  literature,  which  had  risen  to  its  highest  excellence  un- 
ler  Augustus,  declined  rapidly  under  his  successors,  and  was  final- 
ly lost  with  the  fall  of  the  Western  empire.  The  language  was  no 
longer  pure,  and  neither  prose  nor  poetry  retained  the  harmony  and 
elegance  of  the  Augustan  age.  A  certain  sadness  and  discontent, 
which  marks  all  the  later  literature,  forms  also  a  striking  contrast 
with  the  cheerful  tone  of  the  earlier  writers.  Every  part  of  the 
empire,  however,  abounded  with  men  of  letters,  and  a  high  degree 
of  mental  cultivation  seems  every  where  to  have  prevailed. 

Epic  poetry  continued  to  flourish,  and  Virgil  found  many  imita- 
tors. The  best  epic  writer  of  this  period  was  M.  Annaeus  Lucanus, 
who  was  born  at  Corduba,  in  Spain,  in  the  year  A.D.  38.  Lucan 
was  educated  at  Rome  under  the  Stoic  Cornutus,  and  was  intro- 
duced by  his  uncle  Seneca  to  the  Emperor  Nero.  Having  for  a 
time  enjoyed  the  patronage  of  Nero,  he  at  length  became  the  ob- 
ject of  his  jealousy  and  hatred,  was  accused  of  having  taken  part 
in  Piso's  conspiracy,  and  was  condemned  to  death.  He  was  allow- 
ed, as  a  favor,  to  put  an  end  to  his  own  life,  and  thus  died,  A.D.  C5. 
Although  so  young,  for  he  was  scarcely  twenty-seven  years  of  age, 
Lucan,  besides  several  shorter  poems,  produced  the  Pharsalia,  an 
epic,  of  which  he  finished  only  ten  books :  it  relates  the  wars  be- 
tween Caesar  and  Pompey,  and  contains  many  fine  thoughts  and 
striking  images.  He  evidently  prefers  Pompey  to  Caesar,  and  pos- 
sessed a  strong  love  for  liberty,  which  lends  vigor  to  his  verses. 
His  language  is  pure,  his  rhythm  often  harmonious,  but  he  never 
attains  the  singular  delicacy  and  sweetness  of  his  master,  Virgil. 

C.  Silius  Italicus,  the  place  of  whose,  birth  is  unknown,  also  lived 
during  the  reign  af  Nero,  and  was  Consul  in  the  year  A.D.  G8.  He 
was  a  Stoic,  and  put  an  end  to  his  own  life  in  the  year  A.D.  100, 
when  he  was  about  seventy-five  years  of  age.  His  poem,  the  Punica, 
is  an  account  of  the  second  Punic  War  in  verse,  and  is  chiefly  val- 
uable to  the  historical  student.  He  had  little  inventive  power,  and 
takes  but  a  low  rank  in  poetry. 

P.  Papinius  Statius,  the  son  of  the  teacher  of  the  Emperor  Do- 
mitian,  was  carefully  educated  at  Rome,  and  became  renowned  at 
an  early  age  for  his  poetical  talents.  He  spent  the  last  years  of  his 
life  at  Naples,  which  was  also  tho  place  of  his  birth,  and  died  there 


A.D.  14-476.  ROMAN  LITERATURE.  345 

in  the  year  A.D.  96.  He  wrote  the  Thebais,  in  twelve  parts ;  the 
Achilleis,  in  two  books  :  the  Sylvae,  a  collection  of  poems ;  a  trag- 
edy, nnd  other  works.  He  seems  to  have  borrowed  much  from  ear- 
lier Greek  writers,  but  was  possessed  of  considerable  poetical  fervor. 

Claudius  Claudianus,  who  lived  under  Thcodosius  the  Great  and 
his  two  sons,  was  probably  born  and  educated  at  Alexandria,  but 
we  know  little  of  his  history.  He  came  to  Rome  about  A.D.  395, 
and,  under  the  patronage  of  Stilicho,  rose  to  a  high  position  in  the 
state.  The  time  nnd  place  of  his  death  are  unknown.  His  chief 
works  were,  1.  Raptus  Proserpina;,  an  unfinished  poem  in  three 
parts ;  2.  Gigantomachia,  another  unfinished  work ;  3.  I)e  Bello 
Gildonico,  of  which  \vc  possess  only  the  first  book  ;  and,  4.  De  Bel- 
lo Getico,  in  which  the  poet  sings  the  victory  of  Stilicho  over  Alaric 
at  Pollentia.  His  poems  have  a  rude  vigor  which  sometimes  strikes 
the  attention,  but  are  chiefly  valued  for  the  light  they  throw  upon 
the  Gothic  wars.  They  are  marked  by  many  faults  of  taste. 

Lyric  poetry  was  little  cultivated  at  Rome  after  the  death  of 
Horace ;  but  satire,  which  was  peculiar  to  the  Romans,  reached 
its  highest  excellence  under  the  empire.  Juvenal  is  still  the  mas- 
ter of  this  kind  of  writing,  although  he  has  been  imitated  by  Boileau, 
Pope,  and  Johnson ;  and  his  contemporary  Persius  was  also  a  writer 
of  great  power. 

Aulus  Persius  Flaccus  was  bom  at  Volaterrae,  in  Etruria,  in  the 
year  A.D.  34,  of  a  distinguished  family  of  the  equestrian  rank.  He 
was  educated  at  Rome  under  the  best  masters,  particularly  under 
the  Stoic  Cornutus,  with  whom  he  lived  in  close  friendship,  as  well 
as  with  Lucan,  Seneca,  and  the  most  distinguished  men  of  his  time. 
He  died  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight,  leaving  behind  him  six 
satires  and  a  brief  preface.  Persius  possessed  a  generous,  manly 
character,  was  the  foe  of  every  kind  of  vice,  and  formed  one  of  that 
graceful  band  of  writers  who  maintained  their  independence  undei 
the  terrors  of  a  despotic  government. 

Decimus  Junius  Juvenalis,  of  whose  life  we  have  few  particulars, 
was  born  at  Aquinum  A.D.  38  or  40,  and  came  up  to  Rome,  where 
he  at  first  studied  eloquence  with  great  ardor,  but  at  length  gave 
himself  wholly  to  satirical  writing.  He  oifended  Domitian  by  his 
satires,  it  is  said,  and  was  sent  by  that  emperor  to  the  extreme  bound- 
ary of  Egypt,  where  he  died  of  grief  and  exile ;  but  scarcely  any  fact 
in  the  history  of  this  great  man  has  been  perfectly  ascertained. 

We  possess  sixteen  satires  of  Juvenal,  the  last  of  which,  however, 
_s  of  doubtful  authenticity.  These  satires  are  full  of  noble  appeals 
to  the  purest  emotions  of  virtue,  and  of  severe  rebukes  for  triumph- 
ant vice.  Juvenal's  language  is  often  harsh  and  his  taste  impure ; 
but  his  ideas  are  so  elevated,  his  perception  of  truth,  honor,  and 


346  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLV. 

justice  so  clear,  that  he  seldom  fails  to  win  the  attention  of  his 
readers. 

Epigrams  seem  to  have  been  a  favorite  mode  of  expressing 
thought  at  the  court  of  Augustus,  and  almost  every  eminent  Roman 
from  the  time  of  Cicero  has  left  one  or  more  of  these  brilliant  trifles 
behind  him.  M.  Valerius  Martialis,  the  chief  of  the  epigrammatists, 
was  born  about  A.D.  40,  at  Bibilis,  in  Spain,  from  whence  he  came 
to  Rome,  when  about  twenty,  to  perfect  his  education.  Here  he 
lived  for  thirty-five  years,  engaged  in  poetical  pursuits,  and  patron- 
ized by  Titus  and  Domitian.  He  seems  finally  to  have  returned 
to  his  native  land,  where  he  was  living  in  the  year  A.D.  100.  His 
poems  are  about  fifteen  hundred  in  number,  divided  into  fourteen 
books,  and  are  altogether  original  in  their  design.  They  are  al- 
ways witty,  often  indecent,  and  contain  many  personal  allusions 
which  can  not  now  be  understood.  Martial  is  one  of  the  most  gift- 
ed of  the  Roman  writers. 

The  practice  of  writing  epigrams  was  preserved  until  a  very  late 
period.  Seneca,  Pliny  the  younger,  Hadrian,  and  many  others, 
were  fond  of  composing  them ;  and  in  modern  times  the  epigram 
has  been  a  favorite  kind  of  poetry  with  most  good  writers. 

Phrcdrus,  who  lived  under  Augustus  and  Tiberius,  wrote  pleas- 
ing fables.  Calphurnius  and  Ausonius  imitated  Virgil's  bucolics, 
and  fragments  of  many  other  poets  are  preserved,  whom  we  can  not 
mention  here. 

Historical  writers  also  abounded  under  the  empire.  Velleius 
Paterculus,  an  excellent  historian  descended  from  a  patrician  fam- 
ily, was  born  about  B.C.  19.  He  was  the  friend  and  flatterer  of  Ti- 
berius, and  rose,  in  consequence,  to  several  high  offices.  He  was 
Quaestor  in  perhaps  A.D.  7,  and  Praetor  in  A.D.  15.  His  Ilistoricce 
Romame,  two  books  of  which  remain,  is  an  abridgment  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  world,  written  in  a  clear  and  pleasing  style,  and  is,  in 
general,  trustworthy.  He  flatters  his  benefactors,  Augustus  and 
Tiberius,  but  his  fine  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Cicero  shows  that  ha 
felt  a  strong  sympathy  with  that  chief  of  the  Republicans. 

Valerius  Maximus,  who  also  lived  under  Tiberius,  wrote  a  con- 
siderable work,  composed  of  remarkable  examples  of  virtue,  and 
other  anecdotes,  collected  from  Roman  or  foreign  history.  He  had 
plainly  a  just  conception  of  moral  purity,  although  he  dedicates  his 
book  to  Tiberius.  His  style  is  inflated  and  tasteless,  but  the  work 
is  not  without  interest. 

Next  after  Valerius  arose  Tacitus,  the  chief  of  the  imperial  prose 
writers.  Tacitus,  a  plebeian  by  birth,  was  born  at  Interamna.  The 
year  of  his  birth  is  not  known,  but  must  have  lain  between  A.D.  47 
and  A.  D.  Gl.  Tacitus  served  in  the  army  under  Vespasian  and 


A.D.  14-476.  ROMAN  LITEKATUKE.  347 

Titus.  He  rose  to  many  honors  in  the  state,  but  in  A.D.  89  left 
Home,  together  with  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  the  excellent  Agric- 
ola.  He  returned  thitlier  in  A.D.  1)7,  and  was  made  Consul  by  the 
Emperor  Nerva.  His  death  took  place,  no  douht,  after  A.I>.  117. 
So  few  are  the  particulars  that  remain  of  the  life  of  this  eminent 
man  ;  hut  the  disposition  and  sentiments  of  Tacitus  may  he  plainly 
discovered  in  his  writings.  He  was  honest,  candid,  a  sincere  lover 
of  virtue.  He  lamented  incessantly  the  fall  of  the  old  republic,  and 
does  not  spare  Augustus  or  Tiberius,  whom  he  believed  to  be  its 
destroyers.  Like  Juvenal,  whom  he  resembled  in  the  severity  of 
his  censure  as  well  as  the  greatness  of  his  powers,  Tacitus  wrote 
in  a  sad,  desponding  temper  of  mind,  as  if  he  foresaw  the  swift  de- 
cline of  his  country. 

His  style  is  wholly  his  own — concise,  obscure,  strong,  forever 
arousing  the  attention.  He  could  never  have  attained  the  easy 
elegance  of  Livy,  and  he  never  tells  a  story  with  the  grace  of  that 
unequaled  narrator,  but  he  has  more  vigor  in  his  descriptions,  more 
reality  in  his  characters. 

The  life  of  his  father-in-law  Agricola  is  one  of  the  most  delight- 
ful of  biographies.  His  account  of  the  Germans  was  a  silent  satire 
upon  the  corrupt  condition  of  the  Roman  state.  The  Historlurum 
Littri  is  a  history  of  his  own  age,  from  the  fall  of  Galba  to  the  death 
of  Domitian,  and  was  probably  designed  to  embrace  the  reigns  of 
Nerva  and  Trajan.  A  small  portion  only  of  this  work  is  preserved. 
The  Annules  relate  the  history  of  Rome  from  the  death  of  Augus- 
tus to  that  of  Nero,  but  are  also  imperfect.  A  treatise  upon  the 
orators  is  also  attributed  to  the  historian.  Tacitus  and  Juvenul 
are  the  last  great  names  in  Roman  literature. 

Quintus  Curtius  Rufus,  an  interesting  writer,  who  lived  perhaps 
under  Claudius  or  Tiberius,  his  true  period  being  uncertain,  wrote, 
in  ten  books,  an  account  of  the  exploits  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
He  was  succeeded  by  C.  Suetonius  Tranquillus,  who  came  to  Roma 
during  the  reign  of  Domitian,  and  there  studied  rhetoric  and  gram- 
mar. Under  Hadrian  he  fell  into  disgrace  and  went  into  exile  :  the 
period  of  his  death  is  unknown.  Suetonius  wrote  the  lives  of  tho 
twelve  Cffisars,  ending  with  Domitian.  His  language  is  good,  and 
he  paints  with  uncommon  minuteness  the  vices  as  well  as  the  vir- 
tues of  his  subjects  ;  he  abounds,  too,  in  particulars  which  throw 
light  upon  the  manners  of  the  Romans.  Suetonius  also  wrote  sev- 
eral short  treatises,  while  various  biographies  have  been  attributed 
to  him  which  probably  belong  to  inferior  writers. 

L.  Annaeus  Florus,  who  perhaps  lived  under  Trajan,  wrote  an 
epitome  of  Roman  history.  Justin,  whose  period  is  unknown, 
wrote  or  abridged  from  an  earlier  author,  Trogus,  a  history  of  the 


348  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XLV. 

world.  The  Scriptores  Historic  Auyustce  is  a  collection  of  writers 
of  little  merit,  who  flourished  in  different  periods  of  the  empire. 
Aurclius  Victor,  who  was  probably  Praefect  of  Rome  under  Theo- 
dosius,  wrote  Oriyo  Gentis  liomarxp,  only  a  small  portion  of  which 
has  been  preserved,  and  several  other  historical  works.  Eutropius, 
who  served  under  Julian  against  the  Persians,  composed  a  brief 
history  of  Rome,  written  in  a  pure  and  natural  style. 

Ammianus  Marcellinus,  who  lived  under  Valens,  Valentinlan, 
and  Theodosius  until  A.D.  410,  and  was  a  Greek  by  birth,  wrote  a 
history  of  the  empire  from  Nerva  to  the  death  of  Valens,  A.D.  378. 
A  large  part  of  this  work  is  lost.  Ammianus  abounds  in  digres- 
sions and  descriptions,  and  is,  on  that  account,  the  more  entertain- 
ing. His  manner  can  not  be  praised. 

The  Spaniard  Orosius  concludes  the  list  of  the  Latin  historians. 
Orosius  was  a  Christian  presbyter,  and,  while  defending  Christian- 
ity, paints  a  lamentable  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  pagan  world. 
He  borrowed  from  Justin  and  other  writers,  and  lived  in  the  fifth 
century. 

Rhetoric  continued  to  be  cultivated,  but  eloquence  no  longer  pos- 
sessed the  power  which  it  held  under  the  Republic.  The  speeches 
now  delivered  were  chiefly  declamations  upon  unimportant  themes. 
M.  Annaeus  Seneca,  the  father  of  the  philosopher,  came  to  Rome 
from  his  native  city  Corduba,  in  Spain,  during  the  reign  of  Augus- 
tus, and  became  a  famous  rhetorician.  M.  Fabius  Quintilianus,  a 
greater  name  in  literature,  was  born  A.D.  42,  at  Calgnrris,  in  Spain, 
but,  as  was  customary  with  men  of  merit  at  that  period,  went  up  to 
Rome,  and  became  celebrated  as  a  teacher  of  rhetoric.  He  was  a 
person  of  excellent  character,  and,  besides  practicing  at  the  bar,  rose 
to  the  consulship.  Having  passed  many  years  in  politics  or  the 
law,  Quintilian  at  last  returned  to  his  old  profession,  and  in  the 
close  of  his  life  gave  himself  wholly  to  letters.  He  now  wrote  his 
work  upon  oratory,  Libri  duodecim  Institutionis  Oratoricc.  In  this 
valuable  work  he  seeks  to  restore  the  purity  of  the  language,  incul- 
cates simplicity,  and  shows  an  excellent  taste.  The  younger  Pliny 
was  nlso  a  famous  orator  or  declaimer. 

The  Romance,  or  modern  novel,  is  also  thought  to  have  begun  in, 
the  first  century  with  the  satirical  tale  ascribed  to  Petronius  Arbi- 
ter, or  perhaps  with  the  translation  of  the  Milesian  tales  of  Aris- 
tides  from  the  Greek  by  Sisenna.  The  Petronii  Arbitri  Satiricon 
is  a  romance  in  prose  and  verse,  and  was  probably  written  in  the 
first  century  by  an  author  of  whom  nothing  is  known.  It  relates 
the  adventures  of  a  certain  Encolopius,  and  satirizes  the  vices  and 
follies  of  the  age.  TiiC  language  of  this  work  is  pure,  the  wit  live- 
ly, but  indecent :  only  a  portion,  however,  of  the  Satiricnu  h:ts  bwn 


A.D.  14 -4 70.  ROMAN  LITERATURE.  341) 

preserved.  During  the  age  of  the  Antonines  arose  Apjwlcius,  the 
best  known  of  the  ancient  writers  of  tales.  He  was  born  at  Ma- 
(hiura,  in  Africa,  but  went  to  Carthage,  and  from  thence  to  Athens, 
where  he  was  initiated  into  the  Grecian  mysteries,  and  studied  tho 
Platonic  philosophy.  Appuleius  was  an  agreeable  speaker,  and 
had  filled  his  mind  with  the  learning  of  his  age  ;  but  his  fame  with 
posterity  rests  upon  his  novel  Metamor/thoseon,  in  which  he  strives 
to  correct  the  vices  of  his  contemporaries.  In  this  work  a  vicious 
young  man  is  transformed  into  an  ass,  under  which  form  he  goes 
through  many  amusing  adventures,  but  is  at  last  changed  to  a  new 
man  through  the  influence  of  the  mysteries.  The  story  is  full  of 
episodes,  the  moral  good,  but  the  language  shows  the  decline  of 
literary  taste. 

Philosophy,  since  the  time  of  Cicero,  had  become  a  favorite  study 
with  the  Romans,  although  they  produced  no  remarkable  philoso- 
pher. Seneca,  the  most  eminent  of  them,  was  the  son  of  M.  An- 
naeus  Seneca,  the  rhetorician .  He  was  probably  born  at  Corduba, 
in  Spain,  soon  after  the  Christian  era,  and  was  educated  by  the  best 
masters  at  Rome.  He  possessed  an  active  intellect,  was  early  re- 
nowned, and  held  various  high  offices  in  the  state.  Having  been 
the  preceptor  of  Nero,  he  was  finally  condemned  to  death  by  that 
monster,  and  put  an  end  to  his  life  A.D.  6/5.  Seneca  was  a  Stoic, 
and  taught  self-control,  tranquillity  of  mind,  and  contempt  for  the 
changes  of  fortune.  His  various  essays  and  other  writings  have  al- 
ways been  admired,  although  he  wanted  a  correct  taste,  and  is  often 
affected  and  rhetorical.  He  possessed  great  wealth,  which  he  either 
inherited  or  accumulated.  His  town  house  was  adorned  with  mar- 
bles and  citron-wood,  and  his  country  villas,  of  which  he  had  sev- 
eral, were  filled  with  costly  luxuries ;  yet  his  morals  were  probably 
pure,  and  he  was  much  beloved  for  his  generosity  and  fidelity  to  his 
many  friends. 

The  elder  Pliny,  Plinius  Secundus  Major,  another  famous  philoso- 
pher, was  born  in  the  year  A.D.  23,  either  at  Como  or  Verona.  He 
served  with  the  army  in  Germany,  and  rose  high  in  office  under 
Vespasian.  Being  in  command  of  the  fleet  at  Misenum  during  the 
first  eruption  of  Vesuvius  in  A.D.  79,  in  order  to  gratify  his  curios- 
ity he  remained  too  long  near  the  burning  mountain,  and  was  suf- 
focated by  its  exhalations.  Pliny  passed  his  whole  life  in  study, 
and  was  never  satisfied  unless  engaged  in  acquiring  knowledge. 
His  Historia  Naturalis  resembles  the  Cosmos  of  Humboldt,  and 
passes  in  review  over  the  whole  circle  of  human  knowledge.  It 
treats  of  the  heavens,  of  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants,  of  the  various 
races  of  man,  of  animals,  trees,  flowers,  minerals,  the  contents  of 
the  sea  and  land,  of  the  arts  and  sciences ;  and  shows  that  the  au» 


350  HISTORY  OF  ROME.  CHAP.  XL V. 

thor  possessed  an  intellect  of  almost  unequaled  activity.  His 
nephew,  the  younger  Pliny,  who  lived  under  Trajan,  and  was  the 
favorite  correspondent  of  that  emperor,  is  remembered  for  his  agree- 
able letters,  and  the  purity  and  dignity  of  his  character. 

Grammatical  studies  and  critical  writings  also  afforded  employ- 
ment for  many  intelligent  Romans;  and  every  part  of  the  empire 
seems  to  have  been  filled  with  cultivated  men,  who,  possessing  wealth 
and  leisure,  gave  themselves  to  literary  studies.  Aulus  Gellius,  one 
of  the  best  known  of  the  grammarians,  lived  during  the  period  of 
the  Antonines.  His  Nodes  Atticce  is  a  critical  work  in  twenty 
books,  in  which  he  discusses  many  questions  in  language,  philoso- 
phy, and  science.  He  seems  to  have  passed  his  life  in  traveling 
over  Italy  and  Greece,  collecting  materials  for  this  work,  and, 
wherever  he  goes  he  never  fails  to  meet  with  agreeable,  intelligent 
friends,  who  delight,  like  himself,  in  improving  conversation. 

Aurelius  Macrobius,  another  well-known  grammarian,  lived  dur- 
ing the  fifth  century.  His  Commentary  on  the  Dream  of  Scipio 
is  full  of  the  scientific  speculations  of  his  age.  His  Saturnalia  con- 
tains many  extracts  from  the  best  Roman  writers,  with  criticisms 
upon  them,  in  which  he  detects  the  plagiarisms  of  Virgil,  and  ob- 
serves the  faults  as  well  as  the  beauties  of  the  orators  and  poets  of 
Rome.  The  works  of  other  grammarians  have  been  preserved  or 
are  partly  known  to  us,  among  which  are  those  of  Scrvius,  Fcstus, 
Priscianus,  and  Isidorus. 

The  study  of  the  law,  too,  flourished  in  uncommon  excellence  un- 
der the  emperors,  and  nearly  two  thousand  legal  works  were  con- 
densed in  the  Digests  of  Justinian,  few  of  which  belonged  to  the 
Republican  period.  Under  Augustus  and  Tiberius,  Q.  Antistius 
Labeo  founded  the  famous  school  of  the  Procnlians.  He  left  four 
hundred  volumes  upon  legal  subjects.  His  rival,  C.  Ateius  Capito, 
founded  the  school  of  the  Sabinians,  and  was  also  a  profuse  writer- 
Under  Hadrian,  Salvius  Julianus  prepared  the  Edictnm  Pcrpetmnn, 
about  the  year  A.D.  132,  which  condensed  all  the  edicts  of  former 
magistrates  into  a  convenient  code.  Papinianus,  Ulpianus,  and 
Paulus  were  also  celebrated  for  their  legal  writings.  The  only 
complete  legal  work,  however,  which  we  possess  from  this  period, 
is  a  Commentary  by  Gaius,  who  lived  probably  under  Hadrian. 
This  valuable  treatise  was  discovered  in  the  year  1816  by  the  his- 
torian Niebuhr,  in  the  library  of  Verona.  It  contains  a  clear  ac- 
count of  the  principles  of  the  Roman  law,  and  the  Institutes  of  Jus- 
tinian are  little  more  than  a  transcript  of  those  of  Gaius. 

Various  medical  writers  also  belong  to  the  Imperial  period,  the 
most  important  of  whom  is  A.  Cornelius  Celsus.  Works  on  agri- 
culture were  also  written  by  Columella,  Palladius,  and  others,  which 


A.D.  14-47G. 


ROMAN  LITERATURE. 


serve  to  show  the  decline  of  that  pursuit  among  the  Romans, 
ography,  mathematics,  and  architecture  were  also  cultivated: 
of  most  of  these  scientific  authors  only  the  name  is  preserved. 


881 

Ge. 
but 


INDEX. 


A. 

\  "eansi,  123. 

Accius,  L.,  2T5. 

Achaean  League,  10T  ;  in 
alliance  with  Philip  V., 
108. 

Achscan  War,  138. 

JEdiles,  117. 

Adolphua,  brother  of  Ala- 
ric, 341. 

JEttna  Saturninus,  297. 

Julius  Sejanus,  297  ;  his 
death,  299. 

yEmilianus,  324. 

jEmilius  Lepidua,  M.,  mili- 
tary road  made  by,  114. 

xEmilius  Paullus,  L.,  ends 
the  war  in  Illyria,  79 ; 
slain  in  the  battle  of 
Cannfc,  83. 

^Imilius  Paullus,  L.  (son), 
defeats  Perseus,  135. 

.ffineas,  legend  of,  8. 

jEquians,  53. 

jBtolian  League,  107;  forms 
alliance  with  Rome,  108 ; 
but  is  obliged  to  make 
peace  with  Philip  V., 
103 ;  chief  town  Ambra- 
cia  taken  by  the  Romans, 
111 ;  compelled  to  sue  for 
peace,  and  the  League 
crushed,  111. 

Afranius,  L.,  Consul,  224. 

Afraniu*,  L.  (poet),  274. 

Africa,  invaded  by  the  Ro- 
mans, 72 ;  under  Augus- 
tus, 287. 

Agrarian  Law  of  Sp.  Cas- 
sias, 31 ;  law  introduced 

-'  by    Ti.    Gracchus,    150, 

'  151  ;  extended  by  C. 
Gracchus,  157  ;  law  in- 
troduced by  Csesar,  225. 

Agricola,  Julius,  legate  to 
Britain,  303  ;  his  forced 
retirement,  305. 

Agrigentum  besieged  and 
taken,  70. 

Agrippa,    M. ,    Octavian's 


ANTIOCHUS. 

ANTONV. 

general,  drives  L.  Anto- 

nibal  as  a  fugitive,  110  ; 

niua  and  Fulvia  out  of 

is   persuaded  to  invade 

Rome,  263;  defeats  them 

Greece,  110  ;   is  defeated 

at   Perusia,  263  ;     con- 

at Thermopylse,  and  re- 

structs the  Julius  Portus, 

turns  to  Syria,  111  ;   in- 

265; defeats  fleet  of  Sex- 

vades  .  the   kingdom   of 

tus  Pompey,  266. 

Porgamus,  but  is  defeat- 

Agrippa,    M.    Vipsanius, 

ed  near  Magnesia,  111; 

286. 

in  compelled  to  cede  nil 

Agrippa,   Postumua,   293  ; 

his    dominions    in   Asia 

assassination  of,  295. 

Minor,  to  pay  fines,  and 

Agrippina,    298  ;     put   to 

surrender  Hannibal,  111  ; 

death  by  Tiberius,  299. 

peace  concluded,  and  af- 

Alaric    ravages     Greece, 

fairs  of  Asia  settled,  112. 

339  ;      besieges     Rome, 

Antiochus    Asiaticus    de- 

340; sacks  tho  city,  341. 

posed,  212. 

Alba  Longa,  foundation  of, 

Antepilani,  122. 

8;  destruction  of,  14 

Antoninus,    M.    Aurelius, 

Alban  Lake,  legend  of  the, 

Emperor,  314;  death  of, 

43. 

316. 

Alesia  surrenders  to  Cae- 

Antoninus, M.  Commodns, 

sar,  234. 

Emperor,  316. 

Alexander    Severus,    Em- 

Antoninus Pius,  Emperor, 

peror,  322. 

313. 

Alexandria,  283;  trade  be- 

Antonins, C.,  219,  220,  221. 

tween,  and  the  Indies, 

Antonius,  M.  (orator),  as- 

288. 

sassinated,  1S5. 

Allemanni  threaten  Rome, 

Antony  (Marcus  Antonius), 

324  ;   defeated  by  Aure- 

Consul  with  C«sar,  249  ; 

lian,  325. 

offers  the  diadem  to  Cse- 

Allobroges,  embassadors  of 

sar,  249  ;    takes  posses- 

the, 220. 

sion   of  Csesar's   papers 

Alps,  Hannibal's    passage 

and  treasures,  252  ;  pro- 

of, note  on,  90. 

nounces  the  funeral  ora- 

Ambitus, 128. 

tion  over  the  body  of 

Ancus    Marcius,   succeeds 

Csesar,  253  ;   master  of 

Tullus     Hostilius,    14  ; 

Rome,  253  ;  attacked  by 

conquers    several   Latin 

Cicero  in  his  Philippic?, 

cities,  and  removes  in- 

254; retires  to  Cifalpino 

habitants  to  Rome,  14; 

Gaul,  and  besieges  Mu- 

institutes    the   Fetiales, 

tina,  254  ;     declared     a 

15;  founds  a  colony  at 

public  enemy,  254  ;  de- 

Ostia, 15;    fortifies   the 

feats  Pansa,  255  ;  la  de- 

Janiculum,   15  ;      con- 

feated by  Hirtius,  255  ; 

structs  the  Pons  Snbli- 

received  in  Farther  Gaul 

cins,  15;  his  rciga  and 

by  Lepidus,  255;   forms 

death,  15. 

Triumvirate  with  Octa- 

Andriscus,  137. 

vian  and  Lepidus,  296; 

Antiochus,  king   of  Syria, 

defeats  Cassius  at  Phi- 

proposes  to  Philip  V.  to 

lippi,  261  ;  licentious  con- 

partition  Egypt  between 

duct  in  Asia  Minor,  and 

them,  103;  receives  Han- 

meeting  with  Cleopatra, 

Z 

354 


INDEX. 


APOI.LONIA. 

BRUTUS. 

CAESAR. 

262,  203  ;  follows  her  to 

Aristobulus  surrenders  to 

Athens,  and  collects  an 

Alexandria,  263  ;    Ful- 

Pompey,  212,  213. 

army,  257,  25S  ;    plun- 

via, his  wife,  and  L.  An- 

Armenia,  Pompey  in,  212. 

der*  Lyciii,  25S;  crosses 

touius,  his  brother,  rise 

Arminius,  291. 

over  into  Thrace,  258  ; 

against   him,  2C3  ;    his 

Army,    Roman,   constitu- 

defeated by  Octavian  at 

troops  defeated  in  Syria, 

tion  of,  122. 

Philippi,  261  ;  slays  him- 

2G4; meets  hia  wife  and 

Artaxata,   submission    of 

self,  201. 

brother  at  Athens,  2C4; 

Mithridates  at,  212. 

bis  wife  dies,  264  ;  forms 

As  (weight),  19. 

an  alliance  with  Sextus 

Ascanius,  legend  of,  8. 

• 

Pompey,  2C4  ;    marries 

Asculum,  revolt  at,  178. 

Csecilius,  Q.,274 

Octavia,  sister  of  Octa- 

Astures  conquered  by  Au- 

Cawar Augusta   (Saragas- 

Tian, 204;  returns  to  the 

gustus,  291. 

sa)  founded  by  Augus- 

East with  Octavia,  265  ; 

Atellcmce  Vdbulce,  275. 

tus,  291. 

his  success  in  Syria,  265  ; 

Athenio,  leader  of  slaves  in 

Caesar,  Augustus,  hia  con- 

makes   another    treaty 

Sicily,  172  ;  defeated  and 

duct  of  the  empire,  286  ; 

•with  Octavian,  266  ;  re- 

slain by  Catulus,  172. 

extent    of   his    empire, 

news  his  union  with  Cle- 

Athens,   107  ;        declares 

283  ;    hia    government, 

opatra,  2C7  ;  is  defeated 

against  Rome,  1S8. 

289  ;  decree  against  celi- 

in Parthia,  267  ;  returns 

Attalus  Philometor,  147. 

bacy,  289;  his  protection, 

to   Alexandria,  2GT  ;    i» 

Attila  invades  Italy,  342. 

the    Prajtorian    Guard, 

defeated  by  Octavian  in 

Augurs,  IS,  57. 

290  ;    army,  navy,  and 

the    battle    of   Actium, 

Augusta  Emerita  (MeriJa) 

revenues,    290  ;      plots 

268,  269  ;    is  again  de- 

founded   by   Augustus, 

against  his  life,  290  ;  his 

feated    at    Alexandria, 

291. 

military  enterprises,  291; 

269;  stabs  himself,  269. 

Aurelian,  Emperor,  3C5. 

domestic      misfortunes, 

Apollonia,    besieged      by 

Auaonius,  34C. 

291-293;  his  death,  293; 

Philip   V.   of   Macedon, 

Autronius  Psotus,  P.,  218. 

personal       appearance, 

10T. 

Avidius    Cassius    defeats 

294 

Appellatio,  121. 

the  Parthians,  315. 

CsBsar,Caius  Caligula,293; 

Appius  Claudius,  33,  40. 

succeeds  Tiberius,  299  ; 

Appius    Claudius    Caecus, 

B. 

death  of,  300. 

66  ;  his  son,  <53. 

Cecsar,  Caius  Julius,  early 

Appuleius,  349. 

Babylon  captured  by  Tra- 

life, 214,  215;    Quicstor, 

Apulia,  4. 

jan,  308. 

215  ;    ^Edile,  216  ;    re- 

Aquae   Sextse,   battle    at, 

Balearic  Slingers,  124 

stores  statues   and   tro- 

171. 

Barcochab,  312. 

phies    of   Mariu?,  216  ; 

Aquillius,  M'.,  Consul,  sup- 

Belgic War,  230. 

Proprietor  iu  Spain,  224  ; 

presses  the  Second  Ser- 

Bibulus, M.,216,225. 

bis  conquests  there,  224  ; 

vile  War  in  Sicily,  172  : 

Boadicea,  302. 

Consul,  225;  forms  cabal 

is    defeated,  and    made 

Boii  finally  conquered  and 

with  Pompey  and  Cras- 

prisoner  by  Mithridates, 

slaughtered,  114. 

sus    (1st  Triumvirate), 

183. 

Bononia  (Bologna),  colony 

225  ;     carries    Agrarian 

Arabia  Felix  invaded  by 

at,  114. 

Law,  225;  supporta  Pom- 

Trajan, 80S. 

Bosporus,  Cimmerian,  211. 

pey,  and  gives  him  his 

Arabia    Petrsoa    made    a 

Brcnnus,  45,  46,  47. 

only  daughter  Julia  in 

I  toman  province,  308. 

Brigantium  taken  by  Cse- 

marriage,  225  ;  divorces 

Arcadius,  son  of  Theodo- 

ear,  224 

his  wife,  226  ;    obtain* 

eius,  339  ;   his  cruelties, 

Bnittii,  4. 

command  in  Gaul,  226  ; 

341. 

Britain,  first  invasion  by 

1st   campaign   in   Gaul, 

Archelaus  defeated  at  Chte- 

Cassar,  231  ;    second  in- 

229;  2d,  230;    3:1,  230; 

ronea,  1SS  ;  and  again  at 

vasion,  232. 

4th,  231;  5th,  232;  6t.Ii, 

Orchomenos,  189. 

Brutus,  D.,  put  to  death  at 

232;  7th,  233;  8th,  234; 

Archimedes,  93,  94. 

Aqnileia,  256. 

rivalry  of  Pompey,  237- 

Ariobarzanes  expelled  from 

Brutus,  L.  Junius,  23-25  ; 

8-9  ;    returna   to  Italy, 

Cappadocia,    187  ;      re- 

his death,  26. 

240  ;  quarters  at  Raven- 

stored, 188  ;    again  ex- 

Brutus, M.  Junius,  Prsetor, 

na,  240;  ordered  to  dis- 

pelled, 188  ;  restored  to 

conspires    with    Cassius 

band  his  army,  240;  re- 

his kingdom,  213. 

and  other.-  to  assassinate 

fuses,   and    crosses    tho 

Ariovistus  defeated  by  C«e- 

C»}ar,  249  ;    retires    to 

Rubicon,    241  ;      enters 

gar,  230. 

Macedonia,  253  ;  goes  to 

Koine,  242  ;  conquers  his 

INDKX. 


35ft 


CJESA.fi. 

opponents  in  Spain,  242  ; 

CELSUS. 

Caractacus,  301. 

Cd 

Bhort  Dictatorship,  243  ; 

Carbo,  Cn.  I'apirius,  Con- 

w 

crosses  to  Greece  to  en- 

sul, joins  Ciunse,  190. 

<  '1-1 

counter  Pompey,  243-4  ; 

Cnrinas,  326. 

('PI 

total  defeat  of  Pompey 

Carthnge,  OS  ;  capture  and 

Cti 

in  the  battle  of  I'lmn-a- 

destruction  of,  142  ;   re- 

Cet 

lia,  245  ;  ufctator,  240  : 

built   by    the    Romans, 

2 

pursues     Pompey     into 

142  ;  capital  of  the  Van- 

Ch< 

Kgypt,   246  ;     supports 

dal  kingdom,  142  ;  final- 

tl 

Cleopatra,  240  ;  conquers 

ly     destroyed     by     the 

<'ic 

Pharnaces  in  Syria,  240; 

Arabs,  142. 

1 

returns   to   Rome,  246  ; 

Carthaginians,  their  navy, 

a 

defeats  Pompeian  army 

70;  defeated  by  the  Ko- 

t 

in  Africa,  247;  death  of 

inan  navy,  71,  72. 

r 

Cato  atUtica,  247;  mas- 

Cams, Emperor,  326. 

8 

ter  of  the  Roman  world, 

Catilina,  L.  Sergius,  early 

2 

nnd    Dictator    for    ten 

life,  218  ;    crimes,  218  ; 

a 

years,  247;  his  Triumph, 

conspiracy,  219  ;  accused 

q 

247;    his  clemency  and 

by  Cicero,  219  ;   leaves 

i 

reforms,  247-8-9;  Impe- 

Rome,    220  ;       collects 

i 

rator    and   Dictator   for 

troops,  221;  defeated  and 

t 

life,  240  ;  appoints  Octa- 

slain,  221. 

o 

vius  his  heir,  249  ;  con- 

Cassius Longinua,C.,  fight" 

I 

spiracy  against  him,  249- 

under  Crassus  in  Meso- 

C 

EO;   assassination,  250  ; 

potamia,  237  ;    conducts 

c 

character,    'JT>0-1  ;     his 

the  retreat  to  Syria,  237  ; 

o 

character   ao    a    writer, 

originates  the  conspiracy 

1< 

2S3. 

against  Cswar,  249;   re- 

(. 

G'tesar,  L.  Julius,   Consul, 

tires  into  Syrin,  253  ;  de- 

is 

179;  in  Social  War,  179; 

feats  Dolabella  in  Syria, 

t< 

proposes  Lex  Julia,  179. 

253  ;    plunders    Rhode?, 

r 

Cajsar,  Lucius,  293. 

253;  marches  with  Bru- 

i 

Cajdar,  Tiberius  Claudius, 

tus    into   Thrace,  258  ; 

a 

succeeds  Caligula,  300  ; 

defeated  by  Antony  at 

£ 

enters  Britain,  301. 

Philippi,  261  ;  his  death, 

a 

Csesar,  Vespasian  ud,  301; 

261. 

t 

emperor,    302  ;     death, 

Cato,  M.  Porcine,  in  Spain, 

ii 

303. 

114  ;    Qusestor,    Prajtor, 

t 

Cjesar,  A.  Vitellius,   Em- 

Consul,   129  ;      Censor, 

2 

peror,  302. 

132;    his  reforms,  132; 

l 

Calabria,  4. 

liis  prejudices,  132,  133  ; 

Cin 

Calphiirnius,  346. 

his  severity  and  avarice, 

a 

Calpurnian  Law,  157. 

133. 

e 

Camilla*,  M.    Furius,  43, 

Cato,    M.    Porcius,    advo- 

J 

44,  47,  4S,  52. 

cates  the  death   of  the 

Cin 

Campagna,  3. 

Catilinarian      conspira- 

a 

Campania,  4. 

tors,  221  ;   his  death  at 

Cin 

Cannae,  immense    Roman 

Uticn,  247;  his  character 

Cin 

army    defeated    at,   by 

as  a  writer,  £83. 

c 

Hannibal,  8S. 

Catullus,  Valerius,  276. 

1 

Cantabri    conquered     by 

Catulu.",  Q.  Lntatine,  com- 

.   > 

Augustus,  291. 

bined  with  Slarius  in  the 

8! 

Cantabruins,  114,  144-5. 

overthrow  of  theCimbri, 

n 

Canuleia  Lex,  41. 

171  ;  his  death  by  order 

1 

(Japito,  C.  Ateius,  S50. 

of  Marius,  185. 

;:in 

Capitolium,  23. 

Catulns,  Q.  Lutatius  (?on), 

P 

Capna  opens  its  gates  to 

hails  Cicero  as  "Father 

(Mr 

Hannibal,  89  ;    retaken 

of  his  Country,"  921. 

Ci? 

by  the  Romans,  90. 

Caudine  Forks,  battle   at, 

I1 

Caracalla,  Emperor,  321; 

57,  53. 

Civ 

assassinated,  322. 

Celsus,  A.  Cornelius,  350. 

Cla 

CLAUDIANU8. 

CtltiberianB,  tribes  of,  114; 
war  with,  145. 

<!eu»or8, 118. 

Census,  118. 

Centuriones,  122. 

Cethegus,  <J.  Cornelius. 
219,220. 

Chosroes,  king  of  the  Par- 
thians,  310. 

Cicero,  M.  Tullins,  early 
life,  Btudie?,  and  snrcc^ 
as  an  orator,  '216 ;  Qiws- 
tor,  217 ;  prosecutes  Ver- 
rcs,  217  ;  his  speech  for 
Stx.  Roscius  of  Ameria, 
210:  studies  at  Athens 
and  in  Asia  Minor, 216; 
uaestor  in  Sicily,  under 
Sex.  Peducseus,  at  Lily- 
l  seum,  217;  JEdile,  Prae- 
tor, 217  ;  Consul,  219 ; 
opposes  agrarian  law  of 
Ruling  210  ;  denounces 
Catiline,  219  ;  arrest* 
conspirators,  220;  third 
oration,  220;  his  popu- 
larity, 221 ;  hostility  of 
lodina,  227  ;  his  ban- 
ishment, 227;  his  return 
to  Home,  228;  joins  the 
party  of  Csejai's  assajs- 
tins,  C52;  his  Philippics 
against  Antony,  254  ; 
stimulates  the  Senate 
against  Ar.tony  and  (!c- 
tavian,  555;  is  included 
in  tlic  list  of  proscrip- 
tion;', £57 ;  his  death, 
257  ;  his  character  as  n 
writer,  282. 

Cinibri,  1C9  ;  they  enter 
imd  ravage  Spain,  170  ; 
enter  Italy,  destroyed  by 
Mnrius  and  Catulu?,  171. 

Cincinnatus  and  theyEqui- 
ans,  34. 
ncius  Allmentus,  L.,  2S2. 

Cinna,  L.,  Consul,  184 ; 
conflict  with  Octaviiw^ 
185 ;  associated  with 

/  Marius,  185;  their  mas- 
sacres in  Rome,  185  • 
murdered  by  his  army," 
19«. 

Jinnn,  grandson  of  Pom- 
pey,  290. 

Circus  Maximu?,  17. 

Cisalpine  Gaul,  a  Roman 
province,  114. 

Civets  7ioT?»iH7,  G<5. 

Claudianus,  Claudius,  "45. 


350 


INDEX. 


CLAUDIUS. 

DECEMVIRATE. 

Claudius,  M.Aurelius,  Em- 

na, married   to   Csosar, 

e\a. 

peror,  325. 

214;  her  death,  215. 

sat 

Cleopatra,  Queen  of  Egypt, 
meets  M.  Antony  at  Tar- 

Corneli» Leges,  186. 
Cornelii,  slaves  so  called, 

cei 
39 

sus,  262-3  ;  attracts  him 

195. 

De 

to  Alexandria,  263  ;  is  de- 

Cornelius Fronto,  314. 

tio 

serted  for  Octavia,  265; 

Corsica  and  Sardinia  form- 

Deci 

again   attracts   Antony, 

ed  into  a  Roman  prov- 

fie 

who  returns  with  her  to 

ince,  77. 

53. 

Alexandria,  267  ;     war 

Jorsica,  revolt  in,  115. 

Decti 

declared  against  her  by 

Cotta,  C.  Aurelius,  lawyer, 

Ueio 

the  Senate,  268  ;  defeat- 

216. 

lat 

ed  with  Antony  at  Acti- 

Cotta,  L.  Aurelius,  218. 

Dela 

nm,  208;    deceives  An- 

Cotta,   M.    Aurelius,    de- 

Dem 

tony,  but  fails  to  deceive 

feated    by   Mithridates, 

Dicti 

Octavian,269;  kttls  her- 

206. 

Dicti 

self,  269. 

3rasstis,  P.  Licinius,  147. 

by 

Clients,  12. 

Crassus,  M.  Licinius,  Prae- 

Didi 

Clodius  Albinus,  319. 

tor,  appointed    to   com- 

31' 

Clodius  Pulcher,  P.,  profli- 

mand the  army  against 

Dioc 

gate    conduct    of,  226  ; 

the  Gladiators,  202  ;  de- 

tribune, 227  ;    procures 

feats  and  slays  Sparta- 

CO 

the  banishment  of  Cic- 

ens, 203  ;    Consul  with 

th 

ero,  227  ;  killed  by  Milo, 

Pompey,  203  ;  forms  1st 

Dola 

238. 

Triumvirate  with  Csesar 

ex 

Clusium  besieged,  45. 

and  Pompey,  225  ;  meets 

en 

Cocceius  Nerva,  298,  299  ; 

Csesar  and   Pompey   at 

Dom 

emperor,  306. 

Luca,  236;   second  Con- 

Drar 

Cohorts,  1-23. 

sulship    with    Pompey, 

Dru? 

Collatia,  Collations,  1& 

236  ;     his    command   in 

15" 

Colonies,  Roman,  43. 

Syria,  236  ;    crosses  the 

Drus 

Colosseum,  the,  303. 

Euphrates,  237;  defeat- 

nu 

Columella,  350. 

ed  and  killed,  237. 

tri 

Comitia    Cunturiata*   20, 

Cremona  besieged,  1  13. 

po 

120. 

Cretan    Archers    (Sagitta- 

2_! 

Comitia   Cttriata,  12,  20, 

rr'0,124 

Dnif 

120. 

Ctesiphon      captured     by 

th 

Comitia   Tribute,  IS,  20, 

Trajan,  308. 

eh 

121. 

Curiw,  12. 

en 

Constantino       proclaimed 

Curiatii,  13. 

Re 

Augustus,  330  ;  emper- 

Curius, M'.-,  defeats   Pyr- 

Al 

or,  331  ;    removes    the 

rhus,  65. 

tc< 

capital  to  Constantino- 

Cnrtius, M.,  legend  of,  53. 

ple,  332  ;  his  character, 

Cm  vies  ifayi  stratum,  117. 

335. 

Constantius,  32S;    empe- 
ror, 329. 

D. 

Ebu 

23 

Consuls,  duties  of,  113. 

Dacia     made     a     Roman 

Egy 

Corfinium,  new    republic 

province,  308. 

UI 

at,17S. 

Dacians  cross  the  Danube, 

Elag 

Corinth      captured,    and 

305. 

Enn 

burnt,  13a 

Decebalus,  3G5;    demands 

7. 

Coriolanus,  C.  Marcius,32  ; 

tribute,  307;  his  defeat, 

Enn 

banished  from  Rome,  32  : 

308. 

Equ< 

invades    Home    at    the 

Decemvirate,  36;  Decem- 

Etro 

head  of  a  Volscian  army, 

viri  appointed,  37  ;  their 

Etrn 

32  ;  spares  the  city,  33  ; 

tyranny,  37  ;  the  Twelve 

lai 

bis  death,  33. 

Tables,  38  ;  Decemviri 

po 

Cornelia,    mother    of   the 

continue  in   office,  G8  ; 

Pit 

Gracchi,  149,  160. 

they  assassinate  Licinius 

wi 

Cornelia,  daughter  of  Cin- 

Dentatus,  38  ;    Virginia 

58 

ETRUSCANS. 

lain  by  her  father  to 
save  her  from  the  De- 
cemvir Appins  Claudius, 
39  ;  resignation  of  the 
Decemvirs,  39 ;  and  elec 
tion  of  lOvrribunes,  40. 

Decius  Mus,  P.,  self-sacri- 
fice, 53 ;  and  of  his  son, 
53. 
ecuriones,  123. 

Deiotarus,  tetrarch  of  Ga- 
latia,213. 

Delatores,  29T,  303. 

Demetrius  of  Pharos,  79. 

Dictator,  28  (note),  51. 

Dictatorship,  118;  revived 
by  Sulla,  194. 

Didius  Julianus,  Emperor, 
319. 

Diocletian,  Emperor,  327 ; 
selects  Maximian  for  his 
colleague,  328;  defeats 
the  Persians,  329. 

abelln,  Cn.,  accused  of 
extortion,  215 ;  puts  an 
end  to  hid  life,  25S. 
'omitian,  reign  of,  305. 

Drama,  Roman,  272. 

Drusus,  M.  Livius,  155, 
159. 

Drusus,  291 ;  sent  to  Ger- 
many, 296;  receives  the 
tribunitian  power,  297; 
poisoned  by  his  wife, 

Drusns,  M.  Livius,  son  of 
the  opponent  of  C.  Grac- 
chus, elected  a  Tribune, 
endeavors  to  obtain  tlio 
Roman  franchise  for  the 
Allies,  176  ;  assassina- 
ted, 176. 


Eburones,  revolt  of  the, 
232. 

Egypt,  condition  cf,  107; 
under  Augustus,  28S. 

Elagabalus,  Emperor,  322. 

Enna  (Servile  War),  146- 
7. 

Ennius,  Q.,  273. 

Equestrian  Order,  158. 

Etrnria,  2. 

Etruscans,  their  name, 
language,  origin,  and 
portions  of  Italy  occu. 
pied  by  them,  5,  6 ;  wars 
with  the,  43;  defeated, 
68;  in  league  with  the 


INDEX. 


357 


El'MKNES. 

GOTHS. 

L'mbrians,  59  ;   defeated 

Fulvia  (mistress  of  Q.  Cu- 

nt Lake  Vadimo,  60. 

rias),  219. 

Eumenes,  kiug   of  Perga- 

Fulvia,  wife  of  M.  Antony, 

i:m-,    obtains       Mysia, 

conspires    against    him. 

Lydia,  and  part  of  Ca- 

2C3  ;    is   driven   out   of 

ria,  112. 

Rome,  and   defeated  at 

Eunus  (Servile  War),  14C, 

Perusia,  263  ;     dies    at 

147. 

Sicyon,  264. 

Eutroplus,  343. 

Fulvius   Nobilior,  M.,  be- 

sieges and  captures  the 

F. 

towu  of  Ambracia,  111. 

Fabia  Gens  and  the  Veien- 

tines,  33. 

. 

Fabius,  lieutenant,  defeat- 

Gabii, 2a 

ed  by  Mithridate?,  208. 

Gabiuius,  A.,  Tribune,  210. 

Fabius   Muxiimis,  Q.,  ap- 

Gaius, 350. 

pointed  Dictator,  and  to 

Galatia,  106. 

the  command  -  in  -  chief 

Galatians  attacked  by  Cn. 

against    Hannibal,   87  ; 

Manlius  Vulso,  defeated 

etyled  the  Curactator,  or 

in  two  battles,  and  com- 

" Lingerer,"  87  ;  obtains 

pelled  to  sue  for  peace, 

Tarentum,  90. 

112. 

Fabius  Pictor,  Q.,  282. 

Galba,  Ser.  Sulpicius,  his 

Fabius  Snuga,  Q.,  220. 

treachery,  144  ;  succeeds 

Falerii  surrenders  to  the 

Nero,  302. 

Koitmn?,  44. 

Galerius,    328  ;     emperor, 

Faustina,  wife  of  Antoni- 

329. 

nus  Tins,  315. 

Gallia  Cisalpina,  2. 

Fescennine  songs,  276. 

Gallaecians,  114. 

Felicilex,  15. 

Gallienus,  Emperor,  325. 

Fidcnse     takea     and    de-!Gallus,  Kmperor,  324. 

stroyed,  43.                        IGaul,    Caesar's    wars    in. 

Fimbria     defeated,    glays 

229-234;    under  Augus- 

himself, 189. 

tus,  287  ;  insurrection  in, 

Flaccus,    Aulus    Persius, 

297. 

345. 

Gauls  in  Italy,  6;  (Insu- 

Flamens, 13. 

bres)  conquered,  79. 

Flamininus,  L.,act  of  cru- 

Gellius, Aulus,  350. 

elty  of,  127. 

Gentes,  Koman,  12. 

Flamininus,  T.  Quinctius, 

Germanicus     adopted    by 

appointed   to   the    com- 

Tiberius, 293  ;   quells  a 

mand  against  Philip  V., 

mutiny   on   the    Rhine, 

whose  army  is  defeated 

296  ;   his  German  cam- 

in the  battle  of  Cynos- 

paigns,  296;    his  death, 

cephalse,  109  ;  proclaims 

296. 

the     independence     of 

Geta,    son    of   Septimius, 

Greece,  109;  withdraws 

killed  by  Caracalla,  321. 

the     Roman     garrisons 

Glabrio,  M.  Acilius,  209. 

from   all   the  towns   of 

Glaucia,  fellow-demagogue 

Greece,  and   returns    to 

of  Saturninus,  pelted  to 

Italy,  109. 

death  with  tiles  by  the 

Flaminius,  C.,  defeats  the 

mob,  175. 

Insubres,  79  ;  is  defeated 

Gordian,  Emperor,  324. 

by  Hannibal  near  Lake 

Goths    (  Senones  )    besiege 

Trasimenus,  and    slain, 

Clusium,    45  ;      march 

86. 

against  Rome,  46  ;  battle 

Florian,  Emperor,  326. 

of  the  Allia,  46  ;    Rome 

Florus,  L.  Anr,»us,  347. 

destroyed,  46  ;  the  Capi- 

Fossa Mariana,  170. 

tol  besieged,  46;  Capitol 

Frentani,  3. 

saved,   47  ;     Goths    re- 

IUNN11UI.. 

pulsed  and  destroyed, 
47  ;  invade  the  Empire, 
324. 

Gracchi,  148-160. 

Gracchus,  Caius  Scmpro 
niii.-  (the  Tribune),  re- 
turns from  Sardinia, 
157  ;  elected  Tribune, 
l.r>7  ;  his  legal  reforms, 
157, 15S  ;  opposed  by  II. 
LiviusDriisus,159;  mur- 
dered, 160. 

Gracchus,  Tib.  Semproniuu 
(father  of  the  Tribunes), 
subdues  Spain,  115. 

Gracchus,  Tib.  Sempronius 
(the  Tribune),  Quawtor 
ia  Spain,  145;  at  the 
siege  of  Carthage,  149  ; 
elected  Tribune,  150;  in- 
troduces Agrarian  Law, 
150,  151  ;  his  murder, 
152. 

Graecia,  Magna,  6, 60. 

Greece  under  Augustus, 
£88. 

Greek  colonies  in  Italy,  6. 

II. 

Hadrian,  Emperor,  309 ; 
journey  through  his 
provinces,  310 ;  his  Edic- 
tum  Perpetuum,  311; 
builds  a  villa  at  Tibur, 
312. 

Hamilcar,  a  Carthaginian 
officer,  excites  Gauls  and 
Ligurians  against  Ro- 
mans, 113. 

Ilamilcar  Barca,  75 ;  re- 
lieves Lilybseum  and 
Drepanum,  76  ;  con- 
quests in  Spain,  80  ; 
death,  80. 

Hannibal  elected  to  suc- 
ceed Hasdrubal,80 ;  first 
campaigns  in  Spain,  80; 
besieges  and  takes  Sa- 
guntum,  80,  81 ;  crosses 
the  Iberus  and  the  Pyr- 
enees with  a  large  army, 
83  ;  reaches  the  Rhone, 
83 ;  crosses  the  Alps,  83 ; 
encamps  in  the  plains  of 
the  Po,  among  the  Insu- 
bres, 84;  reduces  the 
Taurinians,  84 ;  defeats 
the  army  of  Scipio  near 
the  Ticinus,  84 ;  defeats 
combined  army  of  Scipi* 


358 


INDEX. 


HANNO.               j            JUGURTHA. 

LICTOR3. 

and    Longua    near   the  Hispania  Citerior  and  L'l- 

where  he  is  starved  In 

Trebia,    84  ;      marches 

terior,  114. 

prison,  167-8. 

through  Liguriu  to  the 

Honorius,  son  of  Theodo- 

Julia,  aunt  of  Cie-ar,  mar- 

Arno,  86  ;     defeats    C. 

sius,  339. 

ried  to  Marius,  214  ;   her 

Flaminius  at  Luke  Tra- 

lloratii,  13. 

death,  215. 

f  iinenus,  86  ;   eludes  Q. 

Horatius  Flaccus,  Q.  (poet), 

Julia,  daughter  of  Caesar, 

i'abius  and  defeats  Mi- 

278. 

married  to  Pompey,  225. 

nucius,  S7;    annihilates 

Hortensia,  Lex,  51. 

Julia,  daughter  of  Augus- 

an immense  Homan  aony 

Uortensius,    Q.    (  orator  ), 

tus,  292. 

at  Cannae,  88  ;  marches 

210,  211,  210,  217. 

Julia,  Lex,  179-80. 

into  Samnium  and  Cam- 
pania, and  obtains  Ca- 

Hostiliamis, Emperor,  324.  Julian,  Kmperor,  337. 
Hustilius  Mancinus,  C.,  de-  «/ws  Ima(jinum,12S  (note). 

pua,    89  ;      his     rapid 

feated  by  the  Celtiberi- 

Justin  Martyr,  315. 

marches,  92  ;  campaigns 

ans,  145. 

Juvenalis,  Decimus  J  unius. 

of  u.o.  215-213,  9'2,  93  ; 

IIuus  appear  on  the  Dan- 

345. 

obtains   Tareutum,  £3  ; 

ube,  338;  cross  the  river, 

marches  up  to  the  walla 

342. 

of  Rome,  but  is  unable 

Hyrcanus  favored  by  Pom- 

• 

to  take   the   city,  95  ; 

pey,  212,  213. 

Kings  of  Kome,  9-2S. 

loses   Capua,  96  ;    loses 

Salapia,  96  ;  destroys  the 

T 

army  of  Cu.  Fulvius  at 

. 

1* 

llerdonea,  96;   loses  Ta- 

lapygians,  5. 

Labeo,  Q.  Antistius,  350. 

rentum,  96  ;  is  recalled 

Liiwbiles,  128  (note). 

Labienus  (Tribune),  219. 

from  Italy,  104  ;  defeat- 

Illyria and  Illyrians,  78-9. 

Laberius,  Dec.,  275. 

ed  by  Scipio  near  Zama, 

Illyrian  Wars,  78,  79. 

Latin  War,  54;    battle  at 

104  ;  is  protected  by  An- 

Istria  subdued,  115. 

the  foot  of  Ve.-uviup,  55  ; 

tiochus,  after  whose  de- 

Italia, 7. 

pelf-sacrifice  of  P.  Decius 

feat  at  Magnesia  he  es- 

Italians proper,  5. 

MUP,  55  ;    defeat  of  the 

capes,  and  is  received  by 

Italicus,  C.  Silius,  344. 

Latins,  55. 

Prusias,  king  of  Bithyn- 

Italy,   geography    of,   1  ; 

Latins,  5. 

ia,  111  ;  is  demanded  by 

fertility,  5;  early  inhab- 

Latium, 3  ;    incorporated 

Rome,  takes  poison,  and 

itants,   5  ;    struggles  in 

with    the    Republic    of 

dies,  131,132. 

Central  Italy,  59  ;  under 

Rome,  56. 

Hanno,  in    command    of 

Augustus,  286,  287. 

Legends   of  early  Roman 

Carthaginian    fleet,  de- 

lulus, or  Ascanius,  8. 

history,  8. 

feated  by  Lutatius  Catu- 

Leges  and  flebiftcita^  121. 

IUP,  70. 

Legioncs,  19,  122. 

Hasdrubal    succeeds    Ha- 

• 

Lentulus  Sura,  P.  Corne- 

milcar, 80  ;  founds  New 

Janiculum  fortified,  15. 

lius,  219,  220,  221. 

Carthage,  SO  ;     assassi- 

Janus,   temple      of,    13  ; 

Lepidus,  290. 

nated,  SO. 

closed  for  the  2d  time, 

Lepidus,   M.,  Consul,   op- 

Hasdrubal,    brother       of 

78  ;  for  the  3d  time,  U70. 

poses  the  public  funeral 

Hannibal,  marches  from 

Jerusalem     besieged    and 

of    Sulla,   195-6  ;     pro- 

Spain into  Italy,  97  ;   is 

taken  by  Pompey,  212. 

poses  the  repeal  of  Sul- 

defeated on  the  Metau- 

Jesus  Christ,  birth  of,  293. 

la's  laws,  199  ;   collects 

rus,  and  slain,  98. 

Jugurtha,  under  Scipio  in 

an   army  and   marches 

ITaHtali,  12-2,  123. 

Spain,  146  ;    early  life, 

upon  Rome,  199  ;    is  de- 

Helvetii defeated  by  Cse- 

162  ;    bribes  the   Sena- 

feated near  the  Mulvian 

sar,  229. 

tors,  163  ;    defeats   Ad- 

Bridge,  retires    to   Sar- 

Hemican-', 59. 

herbal,  and  puts  him  to 

dinia,  and  dies,  199,  100. 

Herodes  Atticus,  314. 

death,  163  ;  war  declared 

Lepidus,  M.,  Master  of  the 

Hiero,  king   of  Syracuse, 

against  him,  but  comes 

Horse,  249  ;    forms  Tri- 

69 ;    besieges    Messana, 

to  Rome  under  safe-con- 

umvirate with  Octavian 

70;  is  defeated  by  the 

duct,  164;  murders  Mas- 

and  Antony,  255  ;  in  Af- 

Romans,    and      makes 

eiva,  and  is   ordered  to 

rica,  264. 

peace,  70  ;     his    death, 

quit  Italy,  164  ;   defeat- 

Lirinian    Rogations     and 

93. 

ed  by  Metellus,  166  ;  and 

Laws,  49,  150. 

Ilirtiiis,  A.,  Consul,  defeats 

by    Marius,    167  ;    who 

Liciuius    colleague     with 

Antony  at  Mutina,  but  is 

takes  him  prisoner,  and 

Constantine,  381. 

slain,  255. 

conveys   him    to   Koine, 

Lictors  (note),  25. 

INDEX. 


359 


LIGURIA. 

Liguria,  2 ;  Ligurians,  113. 
LilybsBiim,   siegea    of,  64, 

74,  75. 
Livius      Andronicus,     M., 

272. 

Livius,  Titus,  284. 
Lucan,  301 ;    his    poetry, 

344. 

Lucania  and  Lucanians,  4. 
Lucanians,  6. 

Lticilius,' C.,  276. 

Lucretius  Carus,  T.  (poet), 
276. 

Lucullus,  L.  Licinius,  op- 
poses and  defeats  Mith- 
ridates  in  Bithynia  and 
Pontus,  206-7  ;  sends 
Appius  Claudius  to  Ti- 
granes,  207 ;  his  reforms 
in  Asia,  207-8;  defeats 
Tigranes  at  Tigranocer- 
ta  and  at  Artaxata,  203; 
recalled,  and  superseded 
by  Pompey,  209. 

Liuli  Magnt,  117. 

Lusitanin,  invaded  by  Ser. 
Sulpicius  Galba,  143  ; 
tribes  of,  subdued  by 
Cfesar,  2.'4. 

Lusitaniaus,  114, 144-5. 

M. 

Macedonia,  kingdom  of, 
107  ;  under  Augustus, 
2S9. 

Macedonian  War,  135. 

Macrinus,  Emperor,  322  ; 
defeated  by  Elagabalus, 
322. 

Macrobius,  350. 

Maecenas,  C.  Cilnius,  286. 

M;iviu.-,  Sp.,  slain,  42. 

Magister  Equitum,  28 
(note). 

Magna  GrwMa,  6,  60. 

Mamertini,  69. 

Manilian  Law,  Cicero's  ad- 
dress in  favor  of,  217. 

Manilius,  C.,  Tribune,  210. 

Manip'ili,  122. 

Manlius,  M.,  saves  the 
Capitol,  47  ;  patron  of 
the  poor,  48  ;  his  fate, 
49. 

Manlius  Torquatus,  L.,218, 
220. 

Manilas  Torquatus,  T.,  le- 
gend of,  48  ;  and  of  his 
ion,  55. 


MARIUS 

Manlius  VuUo,  Cn  ,  defeats 
the  Galatians,  and  aft- 
erward, in  conjunction 
with  commissioners,  con- 
cludes a  peace  with  An- 
tiochus,  and  settles  the 
affairs  of  Asia,  111,  112. 

Marcellinus,  Ammianus, 
348. 

Marcelltw,  292. 

Marcellus,  M.,  Consul,  ar- 
rives in  Sicily,  93;  takes 
l.i'.mtini,  93  ;  invests 
Syracuse,  where  he  is 
baffled  by  Archimedes, 
93,  but  finally  captures 
it,  94  ;  takes  Salapia, 
9(i  ;  defeated  and  slain 
in  Lucan ia,  97. 

Marcius,  C..  Coriolanus, 
32. 

Mfxrcomannl  defeat  Verus, 
315. 

Mariu?,  C.,  early  life,  161  ; 
in  Spain  with  Scipio, 
146,  162  ;  elected  Tri- 
bune, 162  ;  sends  the 
Consul  Metellus  to  pris- 
on, 162;  elected  Praetor, 
162  ;  marries  Julia,  sis- 
ter of  C.  Julius  Ctesai 
the  elder,  162 ;  accompa- 
nies Metellus  to  Africa, 
164;  returns  to  Rome, 
and  is  elected  Consul, 
with  command  in  Nti- 
midin,  1 66  ;  repulses  a 
combined  attack  of  Ju- 
gurtha  and  Bocchus,  167 ; 
attaches  Bocchus  to  tin- 
Roman?,  and  takes  Ju- 
gurtha  prisoner,  both  by 
the  agency  of  his  Quses- 
tor  Sulla,  167  ;  elected 
Consul  during  his  ab- 
sence, and  returns 
Rome,  leading  Jugurtha 
in  triumph,  168  ;  reor- 
ganizes the  army,  170  ; 
elected  Consul  a  third 
and  fourth  time,  170  ; 
defeats  and  destroys  the 
Cimbri,  Teutones,  and 
Ambrones,  171  ;  elected 
Consul  a  fifth  timp,  and 
has  a  Triumph,  171 ;  en- 
ters into  a  compact  with 
Saturninus  and  Glaucin, 
173;  and  is  elected  Con- 
sul a  sixth  time,  173, 
174 ;  loses  reputation, 


toM 


METELLUS 

and  sets  sail  for  Cappa- 
docia  and  Galatia,  175  ; 
in  the  Social  War,  179  ; 
is  surpassed  by  Sulla, 
180 ;  intrigues  to  obtain 
the  command  against 
Mithridates,  181 ;  is  op- 
posed by  Sulla,  who  en- 
ters Rome  with  his  army, 
and  Marina  makes  his 
escape,  183;  his  suffer- 
ings, risks,  and  return 
to  Rome  with  Cinna, 
185;  his  conquest*,  and 
the  massacres  in  Roni<\ 
185;  in  conjunction  with 
Cinna  elects  himself  Con- 
sul for  the  seventh  time, 
185 ;  his  death,  185. 

Marius,  the  younger,  de- 
feated by  Sulla,  192 ;  or- 
ders his  opponents  to  be 
put  to  death,  192;  em- 
barks for  Africa,  192  ; 
puts  an  end  to  bis  own 
lifr,  193. 

Marrucini,  3. 

Marsi,  3. 

Marsic  or  Social  War,  178- 
80. 

iartialis,  M.  Valerius, 
346. 

Mnsinissa,  enters  into 
treaty  with  Scipio,  101; 
assists  Scipio,  103 ;  aids 
Scipio  to  defeat  Hasdru- 
bal  and  Syphax,  103  ; 
marries,  and  soon  after- 
ward kills  SophonUba, 
103-4. 

Massilia,  287. 

Maximin,  Emperor,  323. 

Maximus,  Valerius,  346. 

Mediterranean  Sea  infest- 
ed with  pirates,  209. 

Memmius,  C.,  murdered, 
174. 

Mennpii  defeated  byCsesar, 
231. 

Menenius  Agrippa,  fabl« 
told  by,  31. 

Mesopotamia  added  to  tho 
Roman  empire,  329. 

Meseala,  M.  Valerius,  286. 

Messana,  60. 

Metellus  Celer,  2'?1. 

Metellus,  L.,  defeats  tho 
Carthaginians  at  Panor- 
mu*,  73. 

Mctelliis  (Macedonicus), 
Q.,  145. 


r  M 


3GO 

METELLUS. 

Metellus  (Numidicus),  Q. 
Csecilius,  Consul,  con- 
ducts the  war  in  Africa 
against  Jugurtha,  166  ; 
superseded  by  Marius, 
166. 

Metellus,  Q.,  Consul,  224. 

Military  Tribunes  appoint- 
ed, 41. 

Mimes,  275. 

Mithridates  V.,  king  of 
Pontus,  assassinated, 
ISC. 

Mithridates  VI.,  king  of 
Pontus,  early  life,  186; 
conquests  and  alliances, 
187-8  ;  orders  a 
eacre  of  Romans 
Italians  in  the  cities  of 
Asia,  1SS  ;  defeated 
L.  Valerius  Flaccus  and 
by  Sulla,  188-9  ;  obtain? 
peace  on  hard  conditions, 
189;  defeats  Murena  on 
the  Haly?,  205  ;  makes 
peace  with  Rome,  and 
evacuates  Cappadocia, 
205  ;  renews 
with  Rome,  206  ;  over- 
runs Bithynia,  and  de- 
feats Cotta,  206 ;  retreats 
before  Lucullus  into  Pon- 
tus, 207  ;  defeated  by 
Lucullus  at  Cabira,  and 
takes  refuge  in  Arme- 
nia, 207  ;  defeats  Fabius 
andTriarius,208;  unite? 
with  Tigranes,  when  they 
overrun  Pontus  and  Cap 
padocia,  209 ;  is  defeated 
by  Pompey,  211 ;  escape 
into  the  Cimmerian  Bo.-- 
poros,  211;  conspiracy  of 
hia  son  Pharnace?,  21" 
his  death,  213. 

Mithridatic  Wars  :  First, 
186-9  ;  Second,  205  ; 
Third,  205-13. 

Moorish  Darfcmen,  124. 

Morini  defeated  by  Csesar, 
231. 

Mucius  Screvola,  C.,  27. 

MuMan  Bridge,  battle  of 
the,  199. 

urena,  L.,  invades  Cap- 
p  idocia  and  Pontus,  205 ; 
w  opposed  by  Mithrida- 
tcs,  and  defeated,  205. 


INDEX. 

OCTAVIAN. 

PERPERNA. 

Q. 

Rome,  263  ;    reconcilia- 

on- 

N. 

tion  with  Antony,  204  ; 

rica 

his    fleet    destroyed    by 

Oi>  ; 

Nsevius,  Cn.,  273. 

Scxtus  Pompey,  265;  re- 

his, 

Naples,  Bay  of,  4. 

news    the    Triumvirate, 

Nasiea,  Scipio,  152. 

266  ;  subdues  the  Dalma- 

4. 

Navius,  Attu?,  17. 

tian*,  267;  rupture  with 

int- 

Navy,    Carthaginian,    70. 

Antony,   267  ;      defentj 

71,72. 

Antony    and    Cleopatra 

Navy,  Roman,  70,  71,  72, 

at  Actium,  26S  ;  his  Tri- 

of 

73. 

umph,   270  ;    Jmpi:nit..r 

ted, 

N'eapolis  attacked,  50. 

for   life,    Princrp.-i,    Au- 

Nepos, Cornelius,  284. 

gustus,   Pontifex    Muxi- 

of 

Nero  and  Livius,  Consuls, 

mus,  270  ;    end   of  the 

SO; 

defeat     Hasdrubal,    97, 

Republic,  270. 

ces, 

98. 

Octavius.     See  Octavian. 

las- 

Nero,  301  ;  death  of,  302. 

Octavius,  Cn.,  conflict  with 

aml 

Nervii  defeated  by  Caspar. 

Cinna,  185;  slain,  185. 

of 

230. 

Oppian  Law  repealed,  130. 

by 

Nicomedes  III.  driven  out 

Orosius,  348. 

and 

of   Bithynia,   187  ;     re- 

Ostia founded,  15. 

lins 

stored,  188  ;    again  ex- 

Ostrogoths obtain  permis- 

jns, 

pelled,  1S8  ;    dies,  leav- 

sion to  cross  the  Dan- 

on 

ing  his  dominions  to  the 

ube,  338. 

kcs 

Roman  people,  206. 

Otho,  Salvius,  302. 

and 

A'o&ites,  127  (note). 

)vid  banished,  293. 

cia, 

Xobility,  127-8. 

Ovidius    Naso,    P.    (poet), 

war 

\omen  Latinum,  66. 

2S1. 

rer- 

Nonius,  A.,  murder  of,  174 

de- 

Norbanus, C.,  Consul,  de 

late 

feated  by  Sulla,  191. 

P. 

on- 

Xovus  £Tomo,  128  (note). 

Pacuvius,  M.,  275. 

by 

Numa    Pompiliua    elected 

Palseopolis  taken,  56. 

ind 

to  succeed  Komulus,  12  ; 

Palladius,  350. 

mc- 

his    reign    and   institu- 

Palmyra, fall  of,  325. 

Dius 

tions,  12. 

Pannonia,  mutiny  in,  296. 

iicf 

Numantine     War,     disas- 

Panormus, defeat  there  of 

hey 

trous  till  conducted  by 

Carthaginian?,  73. 

ap- 

Scipio,   145,    who     cap- 

Pansa, C.  Vibius,  Consul, 

tted 

tures  and  destroys  Nu- 

defeated  by  Antony,  and 

pe? 

mantia,  146. 

slain,  255. 

5o?- 

Numerian,  326. 

Papinianus,  350. 

•of 

Numidia,   political   condi- 

Papius Mutilus,  C.,  179  ; 

13  ; 

tion  of  and  war  in,  162- 

defeated  by  Sulla,  180. 

8. 

Paterculus,  Velleiu?,  346. 

nt, 

Xumitor,  9. 

Patrcs  ilajorum  and  3ft- 

DO; 

norum  Gentium,  17. 

Patrician?,   12  ;    struggles 

• 

between  them  and  the 

sar, 

Octavian  (C.  Julius  Caesar 

Plebeians,  29  ;    ascend- 

Octaviauus),    appointed 

ency  of  the   Patricians, 

heir     to     C«3ar,    249  ; 

29.    See  Plebeians. 

of 

comes     to     Rome,   and 

Patroniis,  12. 

claims  the    inheritance, 

Paulus,  350. 

ap- 

25  1  ;  collects  an  army, 

Peligni,  3. 

06; 

251;  elected  Consul,  255; 

Pcrgamus,  106  ;    made   a 

dii- 

forms  Triumvirate  with 

province,  147. 

Antony     and     Lepidus, 

Perperna,  M.,  re-enforces 

256  ;   proscriptions,  256- 

Sertorius  in  Spain,  200  ; 

7  ;     defeats    Brutus    at 

becomes  jealous   of  Ser- 

Philippi, 261  ;  returns  to 

torius,  and   ae^assinatcg 

INDEX. 


•Ml 


Pompey,  202. 

Perseus  succeeds  Philip  as 
king   of  Macedon,  1;>4  ; 
defeated   by  L. 
us  Paullus,  135  ;    death, 
130. 

Persius,  345. 

Pertiuax,  Kmpcror,  313. 

Pescenniug  Niger,  319. 

I'etrcius,  M.,2^1. 

I'ctronius  Arbiter,  348. 

Phradrus,  346. 

Pharnaces,  conspiracy  of, 
against  Mitliridates,213; 
confirmed   in   possession 
of  the   kingdom   of 
Bosporus,  213. 

Philip,  Emperor,  324. 

Philip  V.,  king  of  Mace- 
don,  enters  into  a  treaty 
with  Hannibal,  107  ;  ap- 
pears in  the  Adriatic 
with  a  fleet,  and  lays 
siege  to  Oricus  and  Apol- 
lonia,  10T ;  takes  Oricus, 
but  is  driven  from  Apol- 
loniu,  and  burns  his 
fleet,  107  ;  in  alliance 
with  the  Achseans,  and 
at  peace  with  the  JElo- 
lians  and  Romans,  10S  ; 
assists  Hannibal  at  Za- 
ma,  108  ;  attacks  the 
Rhodians  and  Attains, 
king  of  Pergamus,  10S  ; 
treats  with  Antiochns 
for  the  partition  of 
Kgypt,  108 ;  besieges 
Athena,  which  is  re- 
lieved by  a  Roman  fleet, 
108  ;  sues  for  peace  after 
his  defeat  in  the  battle 
of  Cynoscephalse,  109  ; 
refuses  to  take  part  with 
Antiochua  against  thi 
Romans,  110 ;  his  deuth 
134. 

rhosnicians,  68. 

1  halanx,  122. 

Phraates,  king  of  the  Par- 
thians,  291. 

Picenum,  2. 

Piracy  In  the  Mediterrane- 
an suppressed  by  Pom- 
pcy,  210. 

Piso,  On.  Calpurnius,  218. 

Placentia  taken  and  de- 
stroyed, 113. 

Plautia  Papirin,  Lex,  ISO. 
Plautus,  T.  Maccius,  2To. 


POMPEV. 

PROCONSULS. 

Plebiscita,  40,  51  ;  and  Le- 

Cesar, 239  ;  measures  in 

ges,  121. 

opposition  to  Cesar,  239- 

Plebs,  Plebeians,  origin  of 

40;  invested  by  the  Sen- 

the, 14  ;  sufferings  of  the, 

ate   with    command    of 

30  ;  Ager  Publicus,  30  ; 

the  army,  240  ;  retreats 

secession  of  Plebeians  to 

before  Caesar,  242  ;   em- 

the Sacred  Mount,  31  ; 

barks  for  Greece,  242  ; 

institution   of  Tribunes 

besieged  by  Cassarat  Dyr- 

of  the  Plebs,  31  ;   Agra- 

rhachium,  244  ;     forces 

rian  Law  introduced  by 

C«Har   to   retreat,  244; 

Sp.  Cassius,  31. 

defeated    by    Caesar    r\ 

Pliny,     Secundua    Major, 

Phamilia,  2i5  ;    flies  to 

349. 

Kgypt,  245;  slain  there, 

Preni,  68  (note). 

245. 

Pollio,  Asinius,  2S6. 

Pompey,  Sextus,-in  alliance 

Pomoeriuui,  9,  20. 

with    M.    Antony,  264  ; 

Pompaedius  Silo,  Q.,  178. 

master  of  the  eea,  264  ; 

Pompeiopolis,  210. 

forms  alliance  with  Oc- 

['ompeiua    Strabo,  Cn.,  in 

tavian  and  Antony,  264  ; 

Social  War,  180. 

rupture  of  the  alliance, 

Pompey     (  Cn.    Pompeius 

265;   defeats  Octavian's 

Magnus),  early  life  and 

fleet,  265;   his  own  fleet 

career,  200-1  ;    receives 

defeated  by  M.  Agrippa, 

the  surname  of  Magnus, 

266;    is  taken  prisoner, 

201  ;    sent  to  Spain   as 

and  put  to  death  at  Mi- 

Proconsul ngninst  Serto- 

letus,  266. 

rius,  201  ;    failures  and 

Pontiffs,  12,  51. 

successes,  201  ;    deftats 

Pontine  Marshes,  4 

Perperna,202;  concludes 

Pontius,  C.,  defeats  the  Ro- 

the   war,  202  ;     elected 

man!1,  57,  58;   is  defeat. 

Consul,    with     Crassus, 

ed   and   put  to  death, 

203  ;  restores  the  Tribu- 

59. 

nitian  power,  203  ;  sup- 

Pontius, the  Samnite,  193. 

presses    piracy    in    the 

Pontus,  106  ;   kingdom  of, 

Mediterranean,  210;   su- 

186 ;     made    a    Roman 

persedes  Lucullus  in  the 

province,  212. 

East,  211  ;  defeats  Mith- 

Porcius  Cato,  M.   See  Cato. 

ridates  in  Lesser  Arme- 

Populus Romanus,  14. 

nia,  211  ;    receives    the 

Porsena,     Lars,     marches 

submission  of  Tigranes, 

against  Rome  in  nid  of 

212  ;    his    conquests   in 

Tarquin,  26  ;  bridge  de- 

Syria and  Palestine,  212- 

fended  by  Horatius  Co- 

13; returns  to  Italy,  213; 

des,  26;   C.  Mucius  Scae- 

his  Triumph,  223  ;  Sen- 

vola, 27;    Closlia  swims 

ate  refuses  to   sanction 

across     the    Tiber,  27  ; 

his    measures    in    Asia, 

Porsena  withdraws   his 

224,  but  afterward  rati- 

army, 27;  war  with  the 

fies   them,   225  ;    forms 

Latins,  28;  battle  of  the 

cabal   with   Caesar    and 

Lake  Regillus,  28  ;  death 

Crassus  (first  Triumvi- 

of Tarquinius  Superbus, 

rate),  225;    marries  Cso- 

28. 

sar's  daughter  Julia,  225; 

Praaneste  surrenders,  193. 

meets  Csesar  and  Cras- 

Prsetor Peregrinus,  117. 

sus  at  Luca,  236  ;   Con- 

Praetors, afterward  called 

sul  with  Crassus,  236  ; 

Consuls,  25. 

obtains   government   of 

Praetors    and    Prtetorehip, 

Spain,  236;  liis  new  the- 

5(1,117. 

atre    at    Rome    opened, 

rrincijies,  122. 

236  ;  his  wife  Julia  dies, 

Privemum,  conquest  of,  66. 

237;  elected  sole  Consul, 

Probus,  Emperor,  826. 

23S  ;  becomes  hostile  to 

Proconsuls,  118. 

3C2 


INDEX. 


PROPERTIUS. 

Propertius,  Hextus  Aure- 
lius  (poet),  280. 

Propractorc,  118. 

Proscriptio,  what  it  was, 
193. 

Provinces,  Roman,  147. 

Provoeatio,  121  (note). 

Prnsias,  king  of  Bithynia, 
shelters  Hannibal,  131. 

Publilian  Law,  31  (note), 
36. 

Publilian  Law?,  51. 

Publicani,  119  (note). 

Pulcheria,  351. 

Punic  War,  First,  68-76  ; 
Second,  82-1 1  >5. 

Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus, 
assists  the  Tarentines, 
62;  defeats  the  Romans 
near  Heraclea,  62 ;  sends 
Cineas  to  negotiate  a 
peace,  63;  terms  reject- 
ed, 63  ;  takes  Prseneste, 
63;  winter  quarters  at 
Tarentum,  63 ;  embassy 
of  Fabricius,  63;  propo- 
sal to  poison  Pyrrhus, 
64;  releases  Roman  pris- 
oners without  ransom, 
64 ;  crosses  over  into 
Sicily,  64 ;  is  repulsed  at 
Lilybaeum,  64  ;  returns 
to  Italy,  64  ;  seizes  the 
treasures  of  the  temple 
of  Proserpine  at  Locri, 
65;  his  remorse,  65  ;  is 
defeated  at  Beneventum, 
65  ;  returns  to  Greece, 
and  is  slain,  65. 

Q. 

Qucestio  Perpetua,  197. 

Quajstors  and  Quseatorship, 
42, 117. 

Quintilianus,  M.  F<Jbius, 
348. 

Quintiup,  P.,  speech  of  Cic- 
ero for,  216. 

Qwirites,  11  (note). 

R. 

Rabirius,C.,219. 

Ramnes,  12. 

Rasena,  5. 

Regillu,-,  Lake,  battleof,  28. 

Regulus,  M.  Atilius,  de- 
feats the  Carthaginians, 
73;  is  defeated  by  Xaa- 
thippus,  73. 


ROME 

SAMNITES. 

Regulus,  M.  Atilius,  sent, 

pestilence  at,  52  ;  sacked 

as  prisoner,  with  an  em- 

by Alaric,  341. 

bassy  to   Rome,  73,  74; 

Romulus,  birth  of,  9;  slays 

advises  the  Senate  to  re- 

Remus, 10;   rape  of  ,Sa. 

ject  the  terms,  74  ;   re- 

bine   virgins,  10  ;    war 

turns,    and    is    put    to 

with  Sabines,  10  ;  reigns 

death,  74. 

conjointly  with  Titus  Ta- 

Remus   and   Romulus,  9  ; 

tius,ll;  succeeds  T.  Ta. 

Remus  slain,  10. 

tius  as  ruler  of  the  Sa- 

Repetundce, 128  (note). 

bines,  and  thus  becomes 

Republic    established     at 

sole  ruler,  11  ;  his  death, 

Rome,  25  ;  end  of,  270. 

11  ;  institutions,  12. 

Rhea  Silvia,  legend  of,  8. 

Romulus  Augustus,  343. 

Rhodes,  107  ;    school     of 

Rorarii,  123. 

rhetoric  at,  215. 

Runnus,  339. 

Rngatio  and  I/PZ,  49  (note). 

Rufus,  Q.  Curtius,  347. 

Roma  Quadrata,  9. 

Rullus  (Tribune),  219. 

Roman  Literature,  sketch 

Kupilius,  P.,  captures  Tau- 

of,  272-285;  Poetry:  Sa- 

romenium     and    Enna, 

turaian   Metre  and  the 

and  ends  the  First  Ser- 

Drama, 272  ;   M.  Livius 

vile  War,  147. 

Andronicus,   272,    273  ; 

Rutilius       Rufus       found 

Cn.  NKVIUS,  273  ;  Q.  En- 

guilty    and     banished. 

nius,  273  ;     T.  Maccius 

175. 

Plautus,  273  ;  P.  Teren- 

Rutilius  Lupus,  P.,  Con- 

tius Afer,  274  ;  Q.  CsBeil- 

sul,  179  ;    defeated  and 

ius,   L.    Afranius,  274  ; 

slain,  179. 

M.    Pacnvius,   275  ;     L. 

Accius,  275  ;    Atellance 

Fabulce,    Mimes,  275  ; 

i 

Dec.  Laberius,  P.  Syrus, 

Sabellians,  3. 

275  ;  Fescennine  Songs, 

Sabine  virgins,  rape  of,  10. 

276  :    Satires,  276  ;    C. 

Sabini,  3,  11  (note). 

Lucilius,  276  ;  T.  Lucre- 

Sacred Mount,  first  seces- 

tius  Carus,  276  ;    Vale- 

sion to,  31  ;    second  se- 

rius Catullus,  276  ;    P. 

cession,  39. 

Virgilius  Maro,  277;  Q. 

Sacrovir,  297. 

Horatius   Flaccus,  273; 
Albius    Tibullus,    280  ; 

Saguntum  captured,  81. 
Salii,  priests  of  Maiv,  13. 

Sextus  Aurelius  Proper- 

Sallustius  Crispus,  C.,  284. 

tius,  280  ;     P.    Ovidius 

Salvius,  leader  of  the  slaves 

Naso,  281.     Prose.  Writ- 

in Sicily,  172  ;   assumes 

ers  —  Q.  Fabius   IHctor, 

the  surname  of  Tryphon, 

282  ;  L.  Cincius  Alimen- 

172. 

tus,  282  ;     M.    Porcius 

Salvus  Julianus,  350. 

Cato,  282  ;     M.  Tullius 

Samuite.",      history,     53  ; 

Cicero,  232  ;    M.  Teren- 

tribes,  53;  conquer  Cam- 

tius Varro,  283  ;    C.  Ju- 

pania and  Lucania,  53  ; 

lius  Csemr,  283,   C.  Sal- 

attack  the  Sidiciui  and 

lustius     Crispus,    284  ; 

Campauianp,  53  ;    enter 

Cornelius     Nepos,  2S4  ; 

into  war  with  the   Ro- 

Titus Livius,  284. 

mans,  54  ;    are  defeated 

Rome,  situation  and  first 

at   Mount    Gaurus,  54  ; 

inhabitants,  7  ;   legends 

peace   54  ;      second     or 

and    early    history,   8  ; 

Great  War  with  the  Ro. 

first   four   kings,  9-15; 

mans,  57  ;    quarrel   be- 

last three  kings,  16-28  ; 

tween   Q.  Fabius   Maxi- 

foundation    of,  9  ;     de- 

mus and  L.  Papirius  Cur- 

stroyed   by   the    Goths 

sor,  57  ;  Samnite  gener- 

(Senones) under  Bren- 

al,   C.  Pontius,   defeats 

nus,  47  ;    rebuilt,  4S  ; 

the  Romans  at  the  Cau 

SAMNIUM. 

SICILY. 

dine  Forks,  57,  58  ;  treaty 

poses  Ti.  Gracchus,  163  ; 

rejected  by  the  Romans, 

found  dead  in  his  room, 

58  ;  successes  of  the  Ro- 

153. 

mans,    and    peace,  5S  ; 

Scipio,  L.  Cornelius  (Asi- 

third  war,  50  ;  battle  of 

aticus)  appointed  to  the 

Bcntinum,  59  ;     defeat, 

command  against  Anti- 

and  peace,  59. 

ochus,  who  had  invaded 

gamnium    and    Samnites, 

the  kingdom  of  Perga- 

4. 

mns,  111;  defeats  Anti- 

Sapor,  king  of  Persia,  336. 

ochu.s     near     Magnesia, 

Sardinia     obtained     from 

and    returns    to    Rome, 

Carthage,    and    formed 

111;  prosecution  of,  130. 

into  a  Roman  province, 

Scipio    Nasica,   P.   Corne- 

77; revolt  in,  115;  Pr»- 

lius,  subdues    the    I'.oii, 

tor  for,  118. 

114. 

Satires,  Roman,  276. 

Sempronian  Laws,  157. 

Saturnian  Metre,  272. 

Senate,  12,  119. 

Saturninus     elected    Tri- 

Senators bribed  by  Jugur- 

bune,  174  ;  brings  in  an 

tha  found  guilty  by  a 

Agrarian     Law,     174  ; 

commission,  164. 

murders  Memmius,  174; 

Senatus  Consultum,  120. 

is  declared  a  public  ene- 

Seneca. 301  ;  his  writings, 

my,  174;  pelted  to  death 

349. 

with  tiles  by  the  mob, 

Seneca,  M.  Aniwus,  348. 

175. 

Senones,  4£ 

Scipio,  Cneius,  in    Spain, 

Septimius  Severus,  Empe- 

95 ;  slain  there,  95. 

ror,  320;    penetrates  to 

Scipio,       P.       Cornelius, 

the  interior  of  Scotland, 

marches  to  oppose  Han- 

321. 

nibal,    83  ;      killed    in 

Sertorius  Macro,  299. 

Spain,  95. 

Sertorius,  Q.  ,  in  Spain,  200  ; 

Scipio  Africanus  Major,  P. 

defeats  Q.  Metellus,200; 

Cornelius,  his  early  life, 

is   opposed  to   Pompey, 

99  ;    elected    Proconsul, 

201  ;      assassinated    by 

and  goes  to  Spain,  100  ; 

Perperna,  202. 

captures  New  Carthagj, 

Servile  War  at  Carthage, 

100  ;  defeats  Hasdrubal, 

77. 

101  ;    master  of  nearly 

Servile    War     in     Sicily, 

all  Spain,  by  a   victory 

First,  146-7  ;    Second, 

(place  uncertain),  101; 

suppressed  by  M.  Aquil- 

crosses  over   to   Africa, 

lius,  172. 

101;   quells  insurrection 

Servilius,    Q.,    murdered, 

and    mutiny   in    Spain, 

178. 

101  ;     capture.*    Gades, 

Servius   Tullius,   succeeds 

102  ;    returns  to  Rome, 

Tarquinius  Priscug,  18  ; 

and   is   elected    Consul, 

reforms  the  constitution, 

102  ;  passes  over  to  Sici- 

and   divides    the   terri- 

ly, and  thence  to  Africa, 

tory,  IS  ;   increases  the 

103;  besieges  Utica,  103; 

city,   and    surrounds   it 

is  opposed  by  Hasdrubal 

with  a  wall,  20  ;    forms 

and   Syphax,  whom   he 

an  alliance  with  the  Lat- 

defeats,   103  ;      defeats 

ins,  20;    his  death,  22; 

Hannibal    near    Zama, 

his  two  daughters,  22. 

104;    returns   to  Rome, 

Seven    hills    of  Rome,  80 

105;  prosecuted,  131;  re- 

(note). 

tires   from  Rome,  131  ; 

Sextius,  L  ,  first  Plebeian 

death,  131. 

Consul,  50. 

Scipio    Africanus    Minor, 

Sicily  invaded  by  the  Ro- 

140 ;    captures  and  de- 

mans, 69-71  ;  made  sub- 

stroys   Carthage.    142  ; 

ject  to  the  Romans,  ex- 

cent to  Spain,  145;    op- 

cept  Syracuse,  76;  Prte- 

INDEX.  3G3 


SULLA 

tor  for,  US;   under  Au- 
gustus, 287. 

Sicinius  Den  tat  UB  elain,  P,8. 

Sidicini,  53. 

Silanus,  297. 

Slaves  under  the  Romans, 
146. 

Social  War,  or  Mamie  War, 
178-180. 

SociV,  or  Allies,  G6;  troops 
furnished  by,  123. 

Sociorwn  Praifecti,  123. 

Soli,  afterward  Pompeiopo* 
HB,  occupied  by  pirates", 
210. 

Spain  in  two  provinces, 
114;  Praters  for,  US; 
under  Augustus,  287. 

Spanish  War*,  143-14G. 

Sparta,  10T. 

Spartacus,  a  gladiator,  ex- 
cites an  insurrection  of 
slave?,  202  ;  devastates 
Italy  with  a  large  army 
of  slaves,  203 ;  defeated 
by  Crassus,  203  ;  slain  in 
battle,  203. 

Sjiolia  opinta  won  by  A. 
Cornelius  Cossus,  43. 

Statius,  P.  rapiiiiu.-",  344. 

Stilicho,  339. 

St.  Clirysostom,  341. 

Su/cte#,  68. 

iulla,  C.  Cornelius,  early 
life  and  character,  167; 
Quaestor  with  Marius  in 
Africa,  168 ;  gains  over 
Bocchui",  and  entraps 
and  makes  a  prisoner  of 
Jugurtha,167 ;  in  Social 
War,  180;  Consul,  181; 
rivalry  with  Muriu?,  182; 
enters  Itome  witli  hU 
army,  and  takes  posses- 
sion of  the  city,  183  ; 
leaves  Rome  for  the  East, 
184  ;  plunders  Athens, 
188  ;  victory  at  Orchc* 
menus,  189;  makes  peace 
with  Mlthridates,  189  ; 
overcomes  Fimbria,  189 ; 
defeats  the  younger  Ma- 
rius,  and  enters  Rome, 
192  ;  battle  with  tin 
Samnites  and  Lucanians 
for  the  possession  of 
Rome,  192;  Allies  de- 
feated, 193 ;  elected  Dic- 
tator, 193 ;  his  massacres 
and  proscriptions,  1!>4  : 
elected  Consul,  194  ;  hid 


304 


INDEX. 


SULPICIUS  KUFUS. 
Trlumpli,  aud  assumed 
title  of  ielix,  194  ;  his 
military  colonies,  194, 
1!>5  ;  his  reforms,  li)4, 
195 ;  resignation  of  Die 
tatorehip,  retirement, 
and  death,  105  ;  his  leg- 
islation, 196-193. 

Sulpiciua  Rufus,  P.,  Bells 
himself  to  Marius,  182; 
put  to  death,  183. 

Supplicatio,  125. 

Synorium,  fortress  of,  211. 

Syphax,  at  war  with  Car- 
thage, 95,  is  visited  by 
Scipio,but,  falling  in  love 
with  Sophonisba,  daugh- 
ter of  Hasdrubal,  be- 
comes an  ally  of  the  Car- 
thaginians, 101 ;  defeat- 
ed by  Scipio  and  Masi- 
nissa,  and  flies  into  Nu- 
midia,  103  ;  is  pursued 
and  taken  prisoner  by 
Leslius  and  Masinissa, 
103. 

Syracuse  captured  by  Mar- 
cellus,  94. 

Syria,  condition  of,  106  ; 
made  a  Roman  province, 
212. 

Syrus,  P.,  275. 

T. 

Tacitus,  Emperor,  326. 

Tacitus,  the  historian,  346. 

Tarentum,  60,  62  ;  cap- 
tured, 65. 

Tarpeia,  10. 

Tarquinius  Priscus,  Lu- 
cius, his  birth  and  de- 
scent, 16  ;  elected  5th 
king  of  Rome,  16;  de- 
feats the  Sabines  and 
captures  Collatia,  16  ; 
takes  also  many  Latin 
towns,  and  becomes  ruler 
of  all  L.-it iiii  11,  16;  con- 
structs the  cloacae,  16  ; 
lays  out  the  Circus  Max- 
imus,  and  institutes  the 
games  of  the  Circus,  17 ; 
increases  the  Senate,  the 
Kquiteg,  and  the  Vestal 
Virgins,  17  ;  appoint* 
Servius  Tullius  his  suc- 
cessor, 18;  his  reign  and 
death,  13. 

Tiirquiniua  Superbna,  Lu- 
cius, succeeds  Servius 


TRIARIUS. 
Tullius,  22;  hia  tyran- 
ny, 22 ;  alliance  with  the 
Latins,  22 ;  war  with  the 
Volscians,23;  founds  the 
temple  named  the  Capi- 
tolium,  23  ;  purchases 
the  three  Sybilline  books, 
23 ;  attacks  and  captures 
Oabii,  23 ;  sends  to  con- 
sult the  oracle  at  Delphi, 
23 ;  besieges  Ardea,  24 
Lucre  tia  ravished  by  Sex 
tus  Tarquinius,  24;  deatl 
of  Lucretia,  25  ;  is  ex 
pelled  from  Rome  with 
his  sons,  25 ;  attempts  to 
regain  the  throne,  25  ; 
his  Etruscan  allies  de- 
feated, 26 ;  dies  at  Cu- 
mse,  28. 

Terentius  Afer,  P.,  274. 

Teu  tones  and  Ambrones 
enter  France,  in  march 
for  Italy,  170  ;  defeated 
and  destroyed  by  Marius, 
171. 

Theodosius,  Emperor,  339. 

Thurii,  60. 

Tiberius,    231  ;    divi 

from  his  wife,  292  ;  suc- 
ceeds Augustus,  205;  re- 
tires to  Caprese,  298  ; 
death,  299. 

Tibullus,  Albius  (poet), 
2SO. 

Tigranes,  king  of  Armenia, 
receives  his  father-in-law 
Mithridates,207;  defeat- 
ed by  Lucullus  at  Tigra- 
nocerta,  208  ;  acts  in 
concert  with  Mithrida- 
te*,  209;  submits  to  Pom- 
pey,  212. 

Tigranes  the  younger  re- 
volts against  his  father, 
212. 

Tities,  12. 

Titus  takes  Jerusalem, 
303  ;  emperor,  304. 

Trajanus  Deciu?,  Empe- 
ror, 324. 

Trajanus,  M.  Ulirius,  Em- 
peror, 307 ;  conflict  with 
the  Dacians,  308  ;  leads 
an  army  into  Assyria, 
308;  death,  309. 

Trasimenus,  Lake,  Roman 
army  destroyed  at,  86. 

Triari},  123. 

Triarius  defeated  by  Mith- 
ridalcs  208. 


VEIL 

Tribes,  Assembly  of  the, 
121. 

Tribunes,  31, 117, 121. 

Tribuneship  degraded  by 
Sulla's  laws,  l'J7. 

Tiibuni  Militum,  123. 

Tributum,  a  property-tax, 
121. 

Triumph,  the  general's, 
124 

Triumvirate,  First,  225  ; 
Second,  256. 

Triumviri  visit  Greece  to 
inquire   into   the   laws, 
37. 
'ullianum  (dungeon),  221. 

Tullus  Hostilius  elected  to 
succeed  Numa,  13 ;  bat- 
tle of  the  lloratii  and 
Curiatii,  13  ;  conquers 
the  Albans,  14 ;  con- 
quers the  Etruscan*,  14 ; 
punishes  Mettius  Fufle- 
tius,  14  ;  destroys  Alba 
Longa,  and  removes  in- 
habitants to  Rome,  14 ; 
his  reign  and  death,  14. 

Turmce,  123. 
'welve  Tables,  38. 


U. 


Ulphilas,  338. 
I'lpianus,  350. 
Umbria,  2. 
Umbrians   in  league  with 

the  Etruscan*,  59. 
Umbro-Sabellians,  5. 

V. 

Vadimo,  Lake,  defeat  of 
Gauls  and  Etruscans 
there,  GO. 

Valentinian,  Emperor,  338. 

Valentinian  III.,  342. 

Valerian  and  Horatian 
Laws,  40. 

Valerian,  Emperor,  324. 

Valerius,  Corvu.-*,  M.,  le- 
gend of,  48. 

Valerius  Publicola,  20. 

Vandals  invited  into  Af- 
rica, 842 ;  plunder  Rome, 
342. 

Varro,  M.  Terentius,  2S3. 

Varus,  291. 
fyalirt,  121. 

Veii  besieged,  43  ;  Alban 
Lake,  43 ;  city  captured, 
44. 


INDEX. 


8C5 


VELITES. 

relites,1Z3. 

Vcneti  defeated  by  Caaar, 
231. 

Veutidius,  Tribune  and 
Consul,  265 ;  his  success- 
ful wars  against  the  Pa*, 
thians,  265. 

Vercingetorix  defeated  an 
taken  prisoner,  234. 

Verus,  L.,  314,  315. 

Vestal  Virgins,  13,  IT. 

Vestini,  3. 

Veto  of  the  Tribunes,  31. 

in. 


VOLTURCIUS. 

Vettius,  L.,  accuses  Caesar, 
222 ;  is  thrown  into  pris- 
on, 222. 

Vexillarius,  122. 

Via  yKmilia,  Appia,  Fla- 
minina,  114, 11S». 

Victor,  Aurelius,  34T. 
d  Viriathufs  144;   assassina- 
ted, 145. 

Virgilius  Maro,  P.,  277. 

Volgeses  III.,  king  of  the 
Parthiang,  314. 

Volturciiu-,  T.,  220. 


W. 


Wallia,  341. 

X. 

Xanthippiw,  72, 73. 

Z. 

Zenobia,  queen  of  Palmy, 
ra,  325. 


Coin  of  Augustus. 


THE    END. 


j£  SUSS* •  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FA 


A     000  833  956     6 


